Letters

A ‘Complicated’ Matter

Posted

A letter to the editor in your Nov. 10 issue cites a statement by Catholic News Service that both the Democratic and Republican candidates hold positions not in accord with Catholic teaching, and the writer asks what about the Trump-Pence ticket might present a problem.

Let me point out that the teachings of the Catholic Church are not limited to abortion, gay marriage, and assisted suicide, on which the writer has focused. While none of these were issues in Jesus’ day, He did speak frequently about concern for the poor and oppressed, as did the prophets of Israel before Him. 

In Matthew 25, Jesus even seems to make salvation dependent on what we have done for those in need. A candidate or party planning to cut back on care for the vulnerable, the poor or the displaced could be seen as contradicting the teaching of the Catholic Church, and of its founder and of its Scripture.

The political reality is complicated; if it weren’t, we would have solved things by now. And no candidate or party will be right on everything. Politics is the art of the possible, not of the perfect. We have to study, pray, give it our best shot, and then trust in Divine Providence to work it all out.

Ann Plogsterth

Manhattan