¹ John F. Kavanaugh, S.J., “Catholic Consciences,” in America, July 19–26, 2004, p. 7.

² I am indebted to many suggestions from colleagues at the University of Dayton who have helped me improve this address, especially Una Cadegan, Ray Fitz, S.M., Bill Portier, Chris Duncan, Mary Brown, Kel Dickinson, John Stinneford, Bill Trollinger, Paul Benson, student Gary Motz, and Mark Schwehn of Valparaiso University.

³ Massa, Mark S.J., Catholics and American Culture(Crossroads, 1990), p. 137Google Scholar.

⁴ While the 1973 law permits abortion with practically no restrictions until the end of the second trimester, the acceptance of what are now called partial birth abortions leads some who are opposed to abortion to describe the present practice in the United States as abortion essentially “on demand.”

⁵ “Catholics, Politics & Abortion: My Argument with Mario Cuomo,” in Commonweal, September 24^th, 2004, p. 13. See Cuomo's response, “Persuade or Coerce: A Response to Kenneth Woodward,” pp. 13–15.

⁶ Cuomo, p. 15.

⁷ The Tablet, “Running the Catholic Gauntlet,” by Julian Coman, April 10, 2004, p. 5.

⁸ Photocopy in possession of the author.

⁹ Victoria Reggie Kennedy, “The Altar is not a Battlefield,” in the Washington Post, May 23, 2004, p. B07.

¹⁰ America, August 16–23, p. 5.

¹¹ Noonan, John T., “The Bishops and the Ruling Class: The Moral Formulation of Public Policy,” in The Catholic Church, Morality and Politics(Paulist Press, 2001)Google Scholar, edited by Charles E. Curran and Leslie Griffin, p. 224.

¹² The labels “pro‐choice” and “pro‐life” obscure as much as they elucidate. Bush, whose wife, daughter, mother and faith are pro‐choice, wants to make abortion legal in the case of the life of the mother, incest and rape. Clinton, who was pro‐choice, wanted to make abortion rare, legal and safe.

¹³ “Kerry, the Catholic,” an editorial in Commonweal, June 18, 2004, p. 5.

¹⁴ “The Duties of Catholic Politicians and Voters,” in Origins, May 20, 2004 (Vol. 34, No. 1), p. 5.

¹⁵ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, “Politicians and Communion,”The Tablet, July 10, 2004, p. 36. Formal cooperation is to will directly and support what another does, while material cooperation is to tolerate but not support the deed of another.

¹⁶ “A Voter's Guide,”Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2004, p. W13.

¹⁷ USCCB, “Catholics in Political Life,” June 18, 2004.

¹⁸ John Kavanaugh, “Catholic Consciences,”America, July 19–26, 2004, p. 7.

¹⁹ Cited by McBrien, Richard, Caesar's Coin(MacMillan, 1987), pp. 164–165Google Scholar.

²⁰ McBrien, p. 165.

²¹ Summary by McBrien, pp. 165–166.

²² Other than saying that he is personally opposed to abortion, Kerry did not say anything else about his reasoning on this important issue. The editors of Commonweal invited Kerry to explain his position by suggesting a variety of possible positions he might in fact defend: “Opposition to abortion is not, of course, a uniquely Catholic view, or necessarily even a religious one. Many secularists as well as religious believers see abortion as an unjustified taking of innocent human life, an act that civilized society should permit only in the most extreme cases. You, on the other hand, are a supporter of the most permissive abortion law in the world. Perhaps it is your position, Senator Kerry, that abortion is a constitutional question, on that judges, not legislators, will decide, and that legislation such as the partial‐birth abortion ban is therefore futile. Or perhaps you reason that if Roe were overturned, abortion would quickly be legalized by state legislatures and thereby would remain widely available; in short, doing away with Roe would do little to reduce the number of abortions. Or perhaps you are convinced that the law is an inappropriate tool to use in changing hearts and minds about a question as deeply personal as a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy. Or is it that you think the church's opposition to abortion in all circumstances (even in cases of rape or incest), is so rigid and abstract that it is an affront to rape or incest victim's fundamental dignity? Perhaps you are convinced that translating the church's teaching into law would indeed violate the religious beliefs of Jews and others who have traditionally put the mother's health before the life of the fetus. Perhaps, most of all, you think that opposing abortion without seriously understanding the consequences of overturning Roe is an empty gesture, one that does not really address the cultural and moral circumstances that compel women to choose abortion rather than to welcome life”(Commonweal, “Dear Senator Kerry,” August 13, 2004, p. 5).

²³ Cited by Robert Drinan, “…Or the Exhortation to Consider Abortion Above All?” in The Catholic Church, Morality and Politics, p. 240.

²⁴ The Commonweal editorial referred to earlier (note 22) also addresses the bishops: “One thing is clear about the abortion debate in the United States: There is no consensus for making all abortions illegal. Nor is there a consensus for subjecting women or doctors involved in abortions to criminal penalties. Are the bishops advocating the recriminalization of all abortions – or something short of that? If criminalization were the goal, what penalties would you think just for the guilty? Would the father be subject to criminal penalties as well as the mother and doctor? You have a responsibility to grapple with the practical as well the moral dimensions of public‐policy issues you seek to influence”(August 13, 2004, p. 6).

²⁵ Some biologists estimate that nearly 50% of fertilized eggs are spontaneously discharged by women. A growing body of literature has raised questions about when life begins by noting that the phenomenon of twinning, which can occur before, during and a late as a week after implantation. What is the moral status of the zygote before twinning? If that question can be answered with confidence, the answer may have a bearing on the debate over embryonic stem cell research. While advances in medicine have made it clearer in the last thirty years that late term abortions are clearly the destruction of a human being, other research has raised questions of when it should be said that human life begins. Science does not determine theological and moral conclusions, but theology and morality need to pay attention to well founded scientific discoveries.

²⁶ See Murray: “Law and morality are indeed related, even though differentiated. That is, the premises of law are ultimately found in the moral law. And human legislation does look to the moralization of society. But, mindful of its own nature and mode of action, it must not moralize excessively; otherwise it tends to defeat even its own more modest aims, by bring itself into contempt”(quoted in “What Would John Courtney Murray Say?” by Todd David Whitmore in The Catholic Church, Morality and Politics(Paulist, 2001) edited by Curran and Griffin, p. 303.

²⁷ There seems to be a growing consensus that there are too many abortions, and that were certain exceptions to be made (e.g., for a threat to the life of the mother, pregnancy due to rape and incest, and cases of severe fetal deformity), more people would be willing to support a law that would restrict more abortions than those now permitted (Commonweal, August 13, 2004, p. 6).

²⁸ Evangelium Vitae, no. 73.

²⁹ When I expressed these three possible statements to a highly placed once Democratic and now Republican politician in Boston, I was told that taking the third position would today mean suicide for any Democratic candidate.

³⁰ “Signs of the Times,”America, October 4^th, 2004, p. 4.

³¹ Judge John T. Noonan, Jr., Letter to the Editor, Wall Street Journal, September 21^st. 2004.

³² Actually, the number did diminish some during the presidency of Bill Clinton. Mark W. Roche, Notre Dame's dean of the College of Arts and Letters, reports that for the eight years Reagan was president the number of abortions increased by 8%, but that during the eight years Clinton was president, they dropped by 36%. While clearly condemning abortion, Roche nonetheless notes that “Those who view abortion as the most significant issue in this campaign may well want to supplement their abstract desire for moral rectitude with a more realistic focus on how best to ensure that fewer abortions take place.” However, it is difficult to know for sure whether Clinton's social policies were the major factor contributing to fewer abortions, or whether an improved economy made the major difference. (See “Voting our Conscience, Not our Religion,” an OpEd in the New York Times, October 11, 2004.

³³ It is also worth reading James Kelly's “A Catholic Votes for John Kerry,” in America, September 27, 2004. Kelly, a pro‐life Democrat, argues that the Republican party is not as pro‐life as most people think, once their record while in office is examined.

³⁴ Cited by Lisa Sowle Cahill, “Realigning Catholic Priorities: Bioethics and the common good” in America, September 13, 2004, p. 12.

³⁵ Gary Motz, a University of Dayton student who has for over a year led a “Measles Initiative,” estimates that 450,000 children a year in Africa alone die of measles. At the mere cost of 80 cents, a person can be vaccinated against measles.

³⁶ More moral analysis must be done on a collective deed, such as the war in Iraq, which is an action of the US government and therefore directly and collectively implicates all US citizens on the one hand, and on the other abortion which the government permits but does not perform.

³⁷ See Jeffrey Sachs, “Weapons of Mass Salvation,” in The Economist, October 24, 2002. His estimate of 80 million people saved is based on an updated figure given last month of the cost of the Iraq war. Simply to assume, however, that money saved by not waging war would then be directed to such purposes, is naïve. Nevertheless, what most people think is naïve is not a reason for us not to promote such initiatives.

³⁸ James L. Heft, S.M., “Catholics Politically Homeless,”Dayton Daily News, August 4, 2004, p. A11.

³⁹ “Task Force on Bishops and Politicians Report,” in Origins(Dec. 2^nd, 2004, Vol. 34, No. 25, pp. 397).

⁴⁰ Noonan, “The Bishops and the Ruling Class,” p. 237.