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the devil is a divider who use almost any tactic to separate Christians from
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Christ except for one tactic he doesn't typically come right out and say deny
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Jesus Christ because he knows anybody who loves Jesus would immediately reject
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that suggestion so he tends to use more subtle means and more subtle words but
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more on that later for now let's deal with something closer to home and very
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much in the forefront of many people's minds the 2016 presidential race but
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let's do so from a Catholic perspective let's consider the intersection of the
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practice of our faith with the exercise of our civic duty
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especially when it comes to voting let's first acknowledge that there has never
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been a political party in the united states that is perfectly aligned with
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Catholic teaching on every issue but that does not mean that we are therefore
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automatically free to vote for any party we want because one party can be much
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further from Catholic principles on the most important issues than the other
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party as a result of that we are often faced with the task of discerning which
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party and which policies are most in line with Catholic teaching and which
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ones are not so many issues are subject to the predict Prudential judgment of
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Catholic voters what does that mean we hear that term thrown around Prudential
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judgment
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it means that Catholics can legitimately disagree with each other and even with
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their priest on the best way to address issues such as racial injustice
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education the economy immigration and healthcare and still remain in good
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standing with the church there are other issues however which touch on matters of
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intrinsic evil we hear that word as well what does that mean these are actions
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that can never add any time under any circumstance be committed promoted
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or even enabled by a faithful Catholic but setting aside issues of intrinsic
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evil for now let's consider some of the more common issues for which Catholics
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can legitimately exercise Prudential judgment
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let's look at a few specific ones one such issue is affirmative action this
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program aims to eliminate perceive disadvantages that minorities face when
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competing for example for entry into college in our nation one party favors
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affirmative action to bring justice and balance in our multiracial society the
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other party holds that it paralyzes high achievers by giving limited spots in the
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college classroom to less qualified students while denying more qualified
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students access one party sees affirmative action as a matter of
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justice the other sees that as a matter of injustice but suppose a candidate for
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president promoted a policy that would make it legal for someone to kill a
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black person if that black person created a hardship for them getting the
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education they desired how many of you would be comfortable voting for that
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candidate
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thank God I don't see a single hand another issue that falls under the
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category of Prudential judgment is immigration one of the major political
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party seeks to allow immigration with very little restriction the other party
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is concerned that unrestricted immigration leads to among other things
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non-citizens taking jobs that could be worked by citizens one party favors open
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borders the other party favors law and order now suppose a candidate for
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president promoted a policy that would make it legal for someone to kill a
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Hispanic person if the presence of that Hispanic person made it more difficult
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to pursue one's career of choice
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how many of you would be comfortable voting for that candidates
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thanks be to God I don't see a single hand thank God we don't have a candidate
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from either party who says that that they condone such policies nobody in
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their right mind would say such a thing that we could kill blacks or Hispanics
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or anyone else just for the sake of protecting personal economic or
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educational interests
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nobody would say that but as we'll see in a moment there is a candidate in this
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2016 race for president who along with that candidates political party does in
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fact sanction the killing of blacks and Hispanics in the situation previously
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described under one particular condition that that black person or that had
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Hispanic person is still in his or her mother's womb
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now this candidate and party certainly won't say it that way not publicly
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anyway
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instead they use words like choice or reproductive rights or women's health or
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other sanitized statements in order to cover up what abortion is and what
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abortion does now before we go any further and discussing the extremely
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sensitive issue of abortion i want to say a word to any woman in this
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congregation or anyone who is joining us on TV or radio who has chosen abortion
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God's mercy is bigger than your sin and your pain in 10 years of priesthood i
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have often been blessed to be the one who gets to welcome back a woman to the
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merciful embrace of God the Father to take her hand put it back in the hand of
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god the father after she hasn't admitted to and repented of her abortion in the
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sacrament of confession a priest in such a situation has the privilege of
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assuring the woman that she has never for a single moment lost the love of god
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the father nor her dignity as a beloved daughter of that same God no matter what
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she did
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and so I say to these women today you do not have to hide from god one moment
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longer
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I know it's exhausting to pretend that your pain is not real that your loss is
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not immense and that your choice wasn't devastating to you but when you
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experience god's love and mercy even after an abortion
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you will really come to know and experience that God's love in forgiving
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our most serious sins is even greater than his love in creating us your father
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has been waiting for you for a very long time mothers it's time to come home
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so now having shared that important word with grieving mothers let's return to
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the subject of our duty as Catholics in the public square when we consider the
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that a woman can walk into a planned parenthood and have her baby put to
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death because she doesn't want to jeopardize her education or career
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we must acknowledge that those shocking scenarios described previously are not
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only possible not only real but are among the most common reasons for
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abortion in America even the word abortion has been drained of its meaning
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we treat it like nothing more than a term that starts a heated debate rather
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than a procedure that stops a baby's heartbeat many want to treat abortion is
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merely one issue among many but that requires that a person pretend not to
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know what abortion is for what abortion does so let's stop beating around the
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bush with regard to the current presidential race
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do you know which candidate and party promote abortion and even intends to
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expand its availability both at home and abroad
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do you know do you know that this candidate and party intend to make you
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and me
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hey for other people's abortions with our tax dollars even though that has
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always been illegal in our country are you aware that this candidate and party
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which until recently said that abortion should be safe legal and rare no longer
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even bothers to say that it should be rare but rather that it must be
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available anytime anyplace and up to the last moment that that fully formed
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full-term baby remains in the womb
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if you do not know which candidate and party i'm referring to then you should
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not even consider voting until you do
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ignorance in this area is unacceptable because ignorance in this area cost
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millions of babies their lives and jeopardizes the souls of many Catholic
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voters on the other hand if you do know which candidate and party want to
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promote and expand abortion and you still intend to enable them to continue
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their war on the unborn with your vote then it is my duty as a priest to tell
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you that your soul will be in grave danger especially if you present
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yourself for Holy Communion after casting such a vote with the full
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knowledge of what you are doing every election season when a priest addresses
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such topics from the pulpit a certain portion of the population complains that
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he's preaching politics a priest has no business discussing politics in church
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that's what some people say what does God say to the priest who he is
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designated to be a spiritual father for the people entrusted to his care
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here's what God said to the prophet Ezekiel i have made you a watchman for
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the house of Israel whenever you hear a word from my mouth you shall give them
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warning from me if I say to the wicked or wicked man you shall surely die and
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you
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do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way the wicked man shall die in
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his sin but his blood I will require at your hand but if you warn the wicked to
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turn from his way and he does not turn from his way he shall die in a sin but
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you will have saved your life
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another of the devil's taxes tactics is to encourage us to make excuses for our
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participation in very evil activities by appealing to the other good things that
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we support which we try to convince ourselves somehow cancel the grave evil
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we choose to participate in take capital punishment for example if you bring up
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abortion some people say well i'm against capital punishment and if you
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are against abortion then you should be against capital punishment
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fair enough what is the biggest objection to capital punishment that
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innocent people might mistakenly put to death and it must be acknowledged that
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innocent people very well could be unjustly executed in our country due to
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the many flaws in our legal system and this very reason for opposing capital
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punishment is precisely the reason that Catholics must never willingly support
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or enable abortion with their vote because while some innocent people have
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no doubt been put to death mistakenly through capital punishment in abortion
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and innocent person is always put to death and never by mistake it is always
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chosen always intended
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if a person is against capital punishment then they necessarily must be
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against abortion because the intention of abortion is to knowingly and
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deliberately kill an innocent boy or girl
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each and every time
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what about war
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people who vigorously oppose the wars in the Middle East for example often quote
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statistics on the great number of innocent people accidentally killed in
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the crossfire collateral damage the innocent people killed in war is perhaps
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the greatest tragedy of war but if a person opposes the accidental killing of
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innocent people in war while enabling with their vote the intentional killing
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of the most innocent human beings on the planet
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well this is hypocrisy of the most extreme kind if a person opposes war
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because of the accidental unintended deaths of innocent people they
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necessarily must oppose abortion because the killing an abortion is never
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accidental or unintended but always directly willed sometimes we hear the
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stupendously deceptive claim that candidate or party will reduce abortions
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by improving economic or social conditions while simultaneously
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promoting abortion as a right worth protecting
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but let's face facts abortion is not caused by economic or social conditions
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economic and social factors are no doubt circumstances that effective mother's
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decision in some cases but they are not causes after all if eliminating abortion
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were merely a mantle of a matter of economics or access to healthcare or
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other socioeconomic factors then why do wealthy mother's also abort their
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children there are plenty of Catholics who quite rightly have criticized
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bishops and priests in recent years for not having spoken out more forcefully
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against the sexual abuse of children by priests why then do many of these same
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Catholics
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want to silence bishops and priests who speak out forcefully against killing
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innocent children
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why is opposing sexual abuse of children a matter of justice but opposing the
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murder of children metal a matter of preaching politics
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regardless of the resistance a priest must follow the example of Peter and
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John in the Acts of the Apostles when it comes to preaching difficult truths to
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those who sought to silence their proclamation of the gospel these
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apostles responded with these bold words whether it is right in the sight of God
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to listen to you rather than to god you must judge for I cannot but speak of
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what I have seen and heard a priest is not only protected by the First
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Amendment at least for now he is also bound by the fifth commandment thou
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shalt not kill
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if a priest doesn't speak up for the most vulnerable in our society and if
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the Catholic faithful don't actively protect the most vulnerable in our
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society by refusing to enable their deliberate destruction with their vote
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than such Catholics the priests and the laity are condoning the killing by their
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cowardice and what it st. Paul right to Timothy in today's second reading about
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cowardice God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and
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love and self-control
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so do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord but bear your share of
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hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God part of
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every Catholics share in the hardship of the gospel including your priests is
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that we must repent of our actions that are offensive to God and destructive to
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our brothers and sisters and we must oppose the threats to innocent life
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that are the most real and the most urgent
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make no mistake there is no single issue that threatens innocent human life more
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directly consistently imminently and urgently than the deliberate killing of
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baby boys and baby girls in their mother's womb no issue in the time since
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this homily started at least 30 children have been deliberately executed in the
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womb in the united states of america and that's just the ones that are reported
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let me sum up with some very challenging words we have a serious obligation to
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protect human life and especially the lives of the most innocent and
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vulnerable among us whoever fails to do this when otherwise able to do so
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commits a serious sin of omission they jeopardize their own spiritual
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well-being and our source of scandal for others should they be Catholics they
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should not receive Holy Communion now I hope you realize that it takes a lot of
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courage for a priest to communicate such challenging words as these reminding his
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people that some actions are so gravely sinful that they render a Catholic
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unworthy of Holy Communion until there is complete repentance a priest who is
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more concerned about the state of his people souls then they are themselves
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deserve the esteem of his people for his willingness to speak such difficult
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truth with genuine love to put the welfare of his people's souls ahead of
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his own reputation popularity or comfort such a pre should receive respect
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admiration and support rather than resistance or criticism so please pray
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for
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Thank and encourage the spiritual father that God has appointed for you and who
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loves you enough to tell you the truth with those challenging words because the
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