Do We Vote for Christ the King?

What do we do if both major candidates for POTUS are essentially pro-abortion? If they’re both on the wrong side of the fundamental moral and human rights issue of our day?

We cannot be a nation of justice if the fundamental principle of justice, the right to life for every human person from conception until natural death, is not guaranteed by the laws of the land. And we will never have justice when our elected leaders, whose precise task is the upholding of justice, without which there is no protection under the law for any of us, are on the side of injustice.

Not to speak of our religious convictions, that every human person is sacred, created in the image and likeness of God. We must carefully consider whether a vote for a candidate based on his or her morally upright policies is outweighed by his or her policies which promote evil and injustice, whether directly intended or not.

Abortion is at the same time both gravely sinful and an abominable crime. God’s command “Thou Shall Not Kill” admits of no exceptions. Never is it so clear that we are talking about murder as that action intentionally taken to end the life of an innocent, completely vulnerable, unborn child in what is intended by our Creator to be the safest place for a growing human, the mother’s womb.

What do we do if one candidate for office is open to killing the baby in the womb through all nine months of pregnancy and perhaps even leaving unwanted babies to die alone if, as happens, they survive abortion? And if the other candidate is in favor of abortion in cases of “rape, incest and the life of the mother”? Do we write in “Christ the King” for president?

I recently preached on the fact that civilization is crumbling all around us as it was in the last days of Saint Augustine. We remember him as a Doctor of the Church and a spiritual writer of great wisdom who has beautifully expressed the treasure of our faith for the benefit of millions of Catholics and other Christians for more than a millennium. How many know that he had every reason to despair of the future as he lay dying,witnessing as he did the Arian Vandals climbing over the walls of his see city of Hippo Regius in formerly Roman Africa. Today, very little trace remains of that once teeming and prosperous city.

The vandals are once again at the gates, and some of our own people are letting them in this time. We wonder what will be left of the once beautiful Western civilization to which our holy Faith gave birth, with its cathedrals, universities, hospitals, and many other ennobling remnants of its two thousand plus year old influence, to include the writings of Saints and Doctors like Augustine who help to bring the teachings of Our Lord and the Scriptures to life? 

And what of the work of the Church? As a result of contraception, abortion and a general lack of hospitality toward new life, we lack the native vocations sufficient to serve our own parishes. We depend now so much on the ministry of foreign priests and religious that a bishop has urged a letter writing campaign to our legislators to ease up on newly restricted immigration regulations that are resulting in deportations of guest clergy back to their countries of origin. Bishops are also suing the US government to demand the immigration rules be loosened to accommodate foreign clergy.

There is no more important task for our Church or for the world than administering the sanctifying grace of the sacramental life, conferred by Our Lord for salvation along with the teaching and governing munera of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Ecclesia.

The crisis in pastoral life comes from two directions as shrinking family size, a result of striving so hard to “be like everyone else” in the heady days of Kennedy-esque “Camelot”, both leaves pews increasingly empty and America short of parish priests. It didn’t help that certain bishops actually locked their church doors during the COVID panic to qualify for more government handouts.

The teaching on matters of faith and morals enables believers to know they are cooperating with the grace they receive through the sacraments and thus that they remain, and grow, in the state of grace.

 The discernment necessary for avoiding participation in moral evil is an obligatory facet of the life of grace. We may do no evil that good may come of it. Thus the concern for some Catholics of the licitness of voting for either candidate when both are pro-abortion.

With all of this as background I received recently the following email message:

“Happy Monday, Father. Have you heard or seen this movie before?   Le dialogue des Carmélites (1960). I am sure you know the history on it, as they were martyred for Our Catholic faith at end of the Reign of Terror. https://youtu.be/ZytUn3PMRFY?si=rLSKGncgIlBezA77

 

“It's a wonderful movie...and my take away is that we must not compromise our faith. Not out of fear, nor out of being shamed or blamed for what may come.

 

“I will trust that whatever happens ...will be what God allows in His perfect Justice, love and for His glory. God's Will be done. 

 

“I knew before watching it that I would not in any way shape or form vote for Kamala nor Donald Trump. There is a third option....to write-in the Social reign of Christ the King or just simply Christ the King on the ballot.  I will not compromise my faith for any amount of evil. Even when I am told...well, no vote is a vote for Kamala. They are both evil. I stand steadfast for my faith, the Catholic Church, for truth, and God's rights, for Christ the King.

 

“Like you mentioned in your homily....Our Lady of Akita says there will be compromises made...and many will lose their souls. I plan to keep the faith...even unto martyrdom.  

 

“I will pick up my cross and follow Him. He is the way the truth and the life. I will not veer off of the path for a supposed ‘lesser evil’.  

 

“May we all stand firm like our Blessed Martyred sisters of Compiegne and the Vendee.

 

“Arise, soldiers of Christ!”

I suspect many Catholics may be thinking along similar lines. Are we not witnesses of Christ? Will we not at our particular judgment answer for every moral decision good or evil? Should we not avoid every possible cooperation, even remotely, with moral evil? 

But is there a difference between our situation and the martyrs of Compiegne? Unlike them, those who face a bloody martyrdom are not we who vote but the numbers greater or lesser of child victims of abortion and IVF as a result of our choice at the ballot box. Is it morally upright to vote for fewer victims of abortion which may or may not result from the policies of one candidate as opposed to the other? But we may never contemplate cooperation with a moral evil and thus better abandon such lines of inquiry.

There is only one course open to us for making a decision. And that is to base our vote solely on the good or goods that may otherwise be lost as a result of our decision to vote. Or not. This alone will enable us to set about considering what is at stake for keeping what remains intact of our Christian civilization and thus seeking a future in which we can foresee once again achieving a truly moral consensus for the common good.

Christ our King will never be president. But perhaps, one day soon, He will indeed rule over the heart, mind and policies of one who is.

Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ our King, now and forever.