Letters

‘Tone’ Questioned

Posted

With all due respect to the overall message of Cardinal Dolan’s column, “Election Year Is No Time for Catholics to Give In” (CNY, Jan. 7), I have some reservations regarding the Cardinal’s comments.

He speaks of the document “Faithful Citizenship” as a guideline to help voting Catholics know the issues and candidates. A “discerned” voting decision is to be made with regard to the “common good” based on one’s “freedom of conscience.”

In my opinion, the Cardinal took a biased tone by subtly repeating himself, e.g., “while the Democrat leaders on the Hill and in the White House opposed it” (ANDA and SOAR). 

He also addresses the “Hyde Weldon Amendment” as “not durable enough.” Yet the White House has been more than flexible in providing more protection of one’s religious rights under the law. 

Yes, we can and should protest and lobby, e.g., the Little Sisters of the Poor case, but I feel that ANDA and SOAR are causes that have not been fully explained to U.S. Catholics at large and can become a distraction and divisive tactic to sway voting Catholics to choose a candidate of a particular party.

Alphonse A. Liquorie

Mount Vernon