Local Catholic leadership missed a great opportunity to set the record straight

EDITOR:
It was most frustrating during the course of the presidential campaign as a Catholic and a Democrat to see the Republican Party constantly portraying itself as the party of God and morality. I know that there are very sincere Republicans who believe just that and believe that Democrats are godless and immoral. This stems from a very narrow use of the word moral, which even the media time and again accepted without challenge.
I fully expect to hear such judgments and condemnations from fundamentalist Christians of all faith traditions. (We Catholics certainly have an ample supply of fundamentalists in our midst). But I an very disappointed that the official Catholic church in Youngstown did not seize on the occasion of the election to help broaden people's understanding of morality.
Pope John Paul II very clearly and emphatically condemned our attack of Iraq as an unjust war. He was quite right in doing so since the war failed substantially in meeting the criteria of a just war. In addition to the 1,000-plus American soldiers who have been killed, we know that some where between 40,000 and 100,000 Iraqi's also were killed.
For us Catholics who proclaim that "all" human life is sacred from the womb to the tomb, this unjustified taking of human life is a moral scandal of colossal proportions. Just as abortion is an abomination, so too is this war. The difference: This war need never have taken place except for the firm resolve of the current presidential administration. Regarding abortion on the other hand, while we Catholics are convinced that it is a moral evil, the impetus needed to stop it goes far beyond the current legality of it. How many Republican administrations will it take to overturn Roe vs. Wade? We have had Republican administrations in office 16 out of the past 24 years. We can legislate until we're blue in the face, but as in all things until we change the hearts and minds of people, abortion will march on.
I choose now to write because Sunday's front page story in The Vindicator: "Election Results Please Clergy" was quite displeasing and disappointing to me. In this article, Bishop James Tobin is quoted as saying: "I was absolutely pleased that so many people at least used moral issues as a center for their vote."
As defined by the Republican Party and by a large and clueless media, those moral issues include abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research. The war with Iraq was never included as part of the "moral package," and its absence from the list is a poor reflection on the teaching responsibility of the church. Likewise, a living wage, equality in health care, and the rights of workers -- all critical moral issues that cry out to be rectified -- were left out of the moral equation of the right.
Who was it that said: "As often as you do it, to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do it to me?" The consistent ethic of life championed by the ever so wise Joseph Cardinal Bernadine and part of the Catholic tradition, was sadly not given fervent articulation and explanation on the part of our local episcopate.
We could spend every day of the week having a spirited argument over which political party is more or less moral, but the fact of the matter is both parties fail the Catholic prolife test on a number of issues. When we reach the point at which we have the members of the clergy, much less our own mayor, calling Democrats or left wingers atheists, then it's time for someone to set the record straight. I was especially disappointed when the above mentioned article stated that a member of our Catholic clergy believed it was impossible to be a good Catholic and still be a Democrat. I always give our Republican brethren the benefit of the doubt, although I sometimes think they have been sadly misled. But for the record, as a Catholic and a Democrat, I believe in God. I am fervently prolife, and I too made my vote this year based on my moral convictions.
TERRY VICARS
Boardman