The pro-life ethic

I'm a Catholic and I am voting for Barack Obama. I'm voting for him because I am pro-life.

To be pro-life means to adhere to the consistent ethic of life, the legacy of Cardinal Bernardin, archbishop of Chicago in the '90s. The consistent ethic of life requires that we be pro-life from from womb to tomb.

Subscribing to the consistent ethic of life means much more than opposing abortion. Cardinal Bernardin spoke often of life values. In his talks he made reference to racism, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, modern warfare, care of the handicapped and the terminally ill, hunger, homelessness, undocumented immigrants, tax policy, welfare policy, health care, human rights, the feminization of poverty ... all of the issues important in the Catholic Church's history of dedication to matters of social justice.

In their document "Faithful Citizenship," the American bishops remind us that we should not be single-issue voters. What makes Mr. Obama the better choice is the fact that, on the life issues, he is much more closely aligned with Catholic social justice values than is John McCain.

In his book "Can a Catholic Support Him?" Douglas W. Kmiec (who served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush), is very clear on why Barack Obama is the candidate who will do something about abortion, not merely politicize it.

SISTER MARY TRAUPMAN
Brighton Heights

Intrinsic evil

In response to Christine McBride Cosentino ("Catholics Are Responsible to Consider All Issues," Sept. 30 letters) and Gregory Daubner ("Other Beliefs," also Sept. 30): While the Catholic Church steers clear of endorsing political candidates or parties, I feel that these letter writers are unclear on the specific teaching as it pertains to this election. Catholic teaching provides five "non-negotiable" issues to its voters due to the intrinsic evil of their nature. Those five issues are headed up by the abortion issue and do not include any of the mentioned issues such as the war, capital punishment, insurance of all and the economy.

Regarding laws permitting abortion, Catholic doctrine written by Pope John Paul II states that we are "never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or to vote for it." Please understand that to the Catholic Church, abortion involves the killing of an innocent human life, thus making this issue far and away the most important for Catholic voters. While the aforementioned issues are important, they do not contain the evil that the Catholic Church recognizes in the act of aborting human life.

JOHN RIEG
Eighty Four

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