Although the secular press calls it only an appeal to his base of conservatives and those in the religious right, the fact remains that in his acceptance speech Thursday night, President George W. Bush did touch on his opposition to abortion and gay marriage. “For social conservatives,” The Chicago Tribune writes, “there was a firm ‘no’ to same-sex marriage and a pledge to ‘make a place for the unborn child.'”
Naturally we social conservatives and members of the radical religious right would have liked more from President Bush on these subjects, but we’re glad the unborn and the sanctity of natural marriage at least got a mention. They sure didn’t get any mention at the other party’s convention.
Join Fr. Pavone in Election Prayer
We’re a few days late, but it still isn’t too late to join Priest for Life’s call to prayer for our nation. Fr.Frank Pavone, Head of Priests for Life, is asking especially Catholics — but anyone can join in — to pray every day for the upcoming election in November. Here is his prayer, which you may get from our website or from Priests for Life, or simply use your own words that incorporate these thoughts. Here is Fr. Pavone’s prayer:
Oh God, we acknowledge You today as Lord, not only of individuals but of nations and of governments.
We thank You for the privilege of being able to organize ourselves politically, and of knowing that political loyalty does not have to mean disloyalty to You.
We thank You for Your law, which our Founding Fathers acknowledged and recognized as higher than any human law.
We thank You for the opportunity that this election year puts before us, to exercise our solemn duty not only to vote, but to influence countless others to vote, and to vote correctly.
Lord, we pray that Your people may be awakened. Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation, their response to You requires that they be politically active.
Awaken Your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world, but rather a community of faith renewing the world. Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to You in prayer, are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth; that the same eyes that read Your Word, are the eyes that read the names on the ballot, and that they do not cease to be Christians when they enter the voting booth.
Awaken Your people to a commitment to justice, to the sanctity of marriage and the family, to the dignity of each individual human life, and to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin, and not one moment later.
Lord, we rejoice today that we are citizens of Your kingdom. May that make us all the more committed to being faithful citizens on earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Pro-Life Choice Is Clear
What Fr. Pavone’s prayer is clearly saying is that we not only have a voice in our government, for good or bad, but that we must use that voice for good. Father can’t say it, but we all know that the party of Kerry and Edwards is steeped in moral pollution; the Democrat party platform is infested with support for abortion and gay rights.
This isn’t to say there aren’t some good Democrats or some bad Republicans. But what it says is that you should vote for the candidate who is right on the disqualifying issues of abortion, gay rights, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia. It means you have to do the research and know who and what you’re voting for.
It’s a matter of conscience, especially with our society in such a state or moral turpitude. Say the prayer. Make it your own. But pray daily. As the poet says, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”
