Per Christum

In my mailbox at school today, I found a print-out of an article written by The Catholic Knight.

The Catholic Knight lists three essential “deal breaker” points of Catholic Social Teaching, issues that are so important, if a candidate opposes them, that candidate is unworthy of the Catholic vote. Pope Benedict highlighted these three issues in a speech he gave to Italian politicians in 2006.

These are (from the pope’s speech):

- “protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception to natural death” (pro-life)

- “recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family — as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage — and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its de-stabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role” (pro-family)

- and “the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.” (pro-school choice)

The Catholic Knight then lists how major candidates rate on these issues. According to the Knight’s analysis, only one candidate satisfies all three: Mike Huckabee! I have to admit, I am a bit surprised. According to the Catholic Knight’s analysis, Obama and Hillary are both 0 for 3, but McCain is only 1 of 3, although he is closer to the ideal than either Obama or Hillary.

I was surprised to see school choice listed up there with being pro-life and pro-family.

I am not trying to start an all-out political war here, but simply presenting all of this for discussion and edification. Please let’s keep any comments/discussion civil and charitable.