Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.
(CNS News) — In a letter to Denver Catholics, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila said citizens “cannot turn a blind eye to evil,” and stressed that it is “not possible” for a faithful Catholic to support abortion, assisted suicide, or “unnatural sexuality.”
In his Sept. 25 letter, “Religious freedom is on your ballot,” Archbishop Aquila said, “A society that has no common belief in God, and therefore in each person’s identity as his beloved son or daughter, will become less human and less tolerant. When there is no God, something or someone becomes god to fill the void, leading to tragedy, and eventual societal collapse.”
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“Now is the time for us to stand up for the place of full-throated Catholic belief in public life and the valuable contributions of people of faith to society,” said the archbishop.
“Essential for every Catholic to fulfill his or her duty as a citizen is knowing where candidates stand on the issues of life, family and religious freedom,” he said. “It is not possible to be a Catholic in good standing and support abortion or assisted suicide, to promote unnatural sexuality, or to seek to push people of faith out of the public square.”
“Those who do so – Catholic or not – are helping hollow out our culture and contributing to its demise,” he added. “The further away we get from a virtuous and moral life the more likely will we look like Greece or Rome when they fell, or like Venezuela today.”
A woman has her child killed by abortion. (Getty Images)
“Every Catholic needs to inform themselves on where each candidate stands on these issues by reading news outlets that cover these topics,” said the archbishop, “such as Catholic News Agency or the National Catholic Register.”
Also in his letter, the archbishop said, “For the sake of our Church and our society, we must respond by defending the right to religious freedom, both when we vote and through our own personal witness.”
“The American Founders recognized that our self-government relies on a virtuous people,” he said. “The increase in intolerance and violence we see today underscores this. John Adams addressed the need for virtue directly in a 1798 letter to Massachusetts militia officers, writing, ‘Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.'”
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Archbishop Aquila’s message echoes that of Tyler, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland, who tweeted on Sept. 5 that he strongly supported the YouTube sermon by Fr. James Altman. In that video, Fr. Altman explained that, “You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat” because of the Democratic Party’s policies that are contrary to Catholic Teaching, e.g, The party is pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-gay adoption, pro-IVF, and pro-fetal tissue research.
