Perhaps the current economic collapse is God’s way of asking us to reconsider how we have been living.

Life, Liberty and Mercy:

One Catholic’s Contribution to American Political Discourse

by Christopher Shannon

Cardinal Timothy Dolan chose “Let Freedom Ring!” as the title of his recent talk before the John Carroll Society in Washington, DC. And it now appears to be the rallying cry for faithful Catholics seeking to engage the upcoming presidential election with something more than fear and trembling.  Earlier at the Democratic National Convention, Cardinal Dolan heroically linked the procedural principle of liberty to the more substantive issue of life, but President Obama’s HHS mandate has had the (intended? unintended?) effect of moving liberty ahead of life—that is, abortion—as the main religious issue of the campaign.  This will undoubtedly ease the conscience of Catholics who intend to vote for Mitt Romney—he is much more trustworthy on liberty than life.  More troubling for pro-life Catholic consciences should be the honest recognition that for the last forty years or so, the Republican Party has consistently placed liberty before life.  From Reagan to Bush II, Republican presidents have moved heaven and earth to confront threats to liberty at home (the New Deal/Great Society welfare state) and abroad (Soviet communism), yet have remained comparatively timid on life issues. Decades of Republican rule have shown no significant decrease in the annual number of abortions, while these same years have seen the rise of a new threat to the culture of life, gay marriage.  Advocates of gay marriage draw on a language of liberty shared by advocates of abortion and opponents of tax hikes:  liberty is liberty, whether we are talking about sex or money, and the government has no right to restrict liberty provided individuals do not use their liberty to harm others.

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