Contact: Sue Cyr, Ad Hoc Committee in Support of the Bishops, 972-602-1462, Sue_Cyr@juno.com

DALLAS, Oct. 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Ad Hoc Committee in Support of the Bishops in Dallas and Fort Worth enthusiastically thanks Bishop Farrell and Bishop Vann for their Joint Statement to the Faithful about being properly formed in the clear and unambiguous teaching on life issues pertaining to voting.

Spokesperson Sue Cyr said, "Many Catholics don't understand the teaching of the Church on weighing the gravity of 3,500 babies killed every day by abortion.  Fifty babies are killed every day in Dallas!  We need to offer help to these women in need, not give them the option to kill their precious babies.  The fifty million babies that we Americans have aborted during the past 35 years, and the continued daily killing, far outweighs the legitimate concerns of the economy, healthcare, the war and other issues.

"We applaud Bishop Farrell and Bishop Vann for speaking out about the moral necessity for Catholics to vote pro-life, along with the other 40 bishops who have made statements in their dioceses around the nation." 

Following are excerpts from Bishop Farrell's and Bishop Vann's statement:

Catholic teaching clearly states that "to vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or 'abortion rights' when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil - and, therefore, morally impermissible."

"We cannot make more clear the seriousness of the overriding issue of abortion - while not the 'only issue' - it is the defining moral issue, not only today, but of the last 35 years."  "As Catholics we are morally obligated to pray, to act, and to vote to abolish the evil of abortion in America..."

"... there are no 'truly grave moral' or 'proportionate' reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year."  "... not all issues have the same moral equivalence.  Some issues involve 'intrinsic evils'; that is, they can never under any circumstance or condition be morally justified."  "They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned."

The Bishops conclude by saying, "With the knowledge of the Church's teaching on these grave matters, it is incumbent upon each of us as Catholics to educate ourselves on where the candidates running for office stand on these issues, particularly those involving intrinsic evils."

Speaking for the Ad Hoc Committee in Support of the Bishops, as Catholics, in educating ourselves, here is what we find:

Republican Party Platform on Abortion
"Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.  We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children."

Democratic Party Platform on Abortion
"The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right."

The Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, promised (July 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood) that his "first act as president" would be to sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act, which goes beyond Roe v. Wade, to overturn all regulations on abortion, and to substantially increase taxpayer funded abortions.

To read the Bishops' entire Joint Statement, go to www.cathdal.org or www.fwdioc.org.

For more information, see the October 14, 2008 Dallas Morning News article.

Ad Hoc Committee in Support of the Bishops
P.O. Box 154471 * Irving, TX  75015-4471
LoveYourNeighborDallas@hotmail.com