A fellow Catholic - Joe Biden

I am a practicing Catholic -- a practice increasingly difficult for me. This pre-election Sunday we were given the predictable, thinly-veiled mandate to vote 'pro-life'. Of course no one says it outright but the message is clear - vote Republican. I have argued before at some length that voting pro-choice is not the same as voting pro-abortion. My views actually parallel our new Catholic Vice President-elect, Joe Biden, who articulates his position well.
Here's a quote from his web site:

I remember vividly the first time, in 1973, I had to go to the floor to vote on abortion. A fellow Senator asked how I would vote. "My position is that I am personally opposed to abortion, but I don't think I have a right to impose my view on the rest of society. I've thought a lot about it, and my position probably doesn't please anyone. I think the government should stay out completely. I will not vote to overturn the Court's decision. I will not vote to curtail a woman's right to choose abortion. But I will also not vote to use federal funds to fund abortion."

I've stuck to my middle-of-the-road position on abortion for more than 30 years. I still vote against partial birth abortion and federal funding, and I'd like to make it easier for scared young mothers to choose not to have an abortion, but I will also vote against a constitutional amendment that strips a woman of her right to make her own choice.

This is America -- not an extension of the Vatican. To force papal opinion, or any religious belief, via legislation is nothing less than anti-American. I am quite pleased to see that a majority of voting American Catholics, 54%, voted for Obama. I'm sure this was a very difficult decision for Biden to make... as it has been for me and, I'm sure, the rest of that 54%. For anyone to dismiss our own struggle with the issue, to dismiss our long and hard consideration toward this decision made in good faith and good conscience is to dismiss the love of God. It dismisses the Sprit in all of us. I do not accept their judgment.

I came to the Church at the height of the post-Vatican II era. The Catholic church, then, valued a God of love and acceptance over one of judgment and damnation. It was a perfect fit for me at the time but now increasingly sacrifices compassion and broader social justice issues to a blind dogmatism. The fact that so many Catholics voted for Obama gives me a newfound hope for my church. The Catholic church, however, is not a democracy and I fear the respite will be brief. I'm sure if my own bishop were to read this I would be threatened with denial of Holy Communion... just has Biden has been... just as Kansas Governor Sibelius (who holds similar views) has been. I'm fine with that. My bishop may not understand, but I have no doubt that my God does. Opposing the criminalization of abortion simply does not imply that any of us are pro-Abortion. It is a ludricous assertion.

Resources are much better and more effectively spent toward changing hearts and minds instead of laws.