Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 2
Thursday, November 2, 2000
“Faithful Citizenship: Civic Responsibility for a New Millennium”
Washington (CNS)
Editor ’s note: As voters head to the
polls on Tuesday, the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops has
issued a statement that emphasizes
the Catholic stance on key issues.
ere in alphabetical order are
excerpts from “Faithful
Citizenship: Civic Responsibility for
a New Millennium,” the document of
the U.S. bishops’ Administrative
Board which was submitted as testi
mony this year to the platform com
mittees of the Democratic and
Republican Parties.
ABORTION, ASSISTED
SUICIDE AND EUTHANASIA
Abortion, the deliberate killing of a
human being before birth, is never
morally acceptable. The purposeful
taking of human life by assisted sui
cide and euthanasia is never an act of
mercy, but is an unjustifiable assault
on human life. ... We support consti
tutional protection for unborn human
life, as well as legislative efforts to
oppose abortion and euthanasia. We
encourage the passage of laws and
programs that promote childbirth and
adoption over abortion and assist
pregnant women and children. We
support aid to those who are sick and
dying by encouraging effective pal
liative care.
AGRICULTURE
Those who grow our food should
be able to make a decent living and
maintain their way of life. Farmers
deserve a decent return for their
labor.
COMMUNICATIONS
The values of our culture are
shaped and shared in the print media
and on radio, on television and on
the Internet. We must balance respect
for freedom of speech with concern
for the common good, promoting
responsible regulations that protect
children and families. ... We support
the development of the TV rating
system and of the technology that
assists parents in supervising what
their children view. ... The Internet
has created both benefits and prob
lems. Since it offers vastly expanded
capabilities for learning and commu
nicating, this technology should be
available to all students regardless of
income. Because it poses a serious
danger by giving easy access to
pornographic and violent material,
we support vigorous enforcement of
existing obscenity and child pornog
raphy laws with regard to material on
the Internet....
DEATH PENALTY
Society has a right and duty to
defend itself against violent crime
and a duty to reach out to victims of
crime. Yet our nation’s increasing
reliance on the death penalty is
extremely troubling. Respect for
human life must even include respect
for the lives of those who have taken
the lives of others. ... As part of our
pro-life commitment, we encourage
solutions to violent crime that reflect
the dignity of the human person, urg
ing our nation to abandon the use of
capital punishment.
DEBT RELIEF AND GLOBAL
POVERTY
We urge the United States to pur
sue ... debt relief to overcome pover
ty in the poorest countries, which are
shackled by a debt burden that forces
them to divert scarce resources from
health, education and other essential
services. (The United States should
also take) a leading role in helping to
alleviate global poverty through for
eign aid programs that support sus
tainable development and provide
new economic opportunities for the
poor without promoting population
control, and through trade policies
that are tied to worker protection,
human rights and environmental con
cerns.
DISCRIMINATION
Our society must also combat dis
crimination based on sex, race, eth
nicity or age. Such discrimination
constitutes a grave injustice and an
affront to human dignity. It must be
aggressively resisted. Where the ef
fects of past discrimination persist,
society has an obligation to take pos
itive steps to overcome the legacy of
injustice. We support judiciously
administered affirmative action pro
grams as tools to overcome discrimi
nation and its continuing effects.
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
We support policies that create jobs
with adequate pay and decent work
ing conditions, increase the mini
mum wage so it becomes a living
wage, and overcome barriers to equal
pay and employment for women and
minorities. We reaffirm the church’s
traditional teaching in support of the
right of all workers to choose to
organize and bargain collectively and
to exercise these rights without
reprisal. We also affirm church
teaching on the importance of eco
nomic freedom, initiative, and the
right to private property, which pro
vide tools and resources to pursue
the common good.
EDUCATION
Educational systems can support or
undermine parental efforts to educate
and nurture children. No one model
or means of education is appropriate
to the needs of all persons. All par
ents—the first, most important edu
cators—should have the opportunity
to exercise their fundamental right to
choose the education best suited to
the needs of their children, including
private and religious schools. ... The
government should, where necessary,
help provide the resources required
for parents to exercise this basic right
without discrimination. ... As a mat
ter of justice, we believe that when
services aimed at improving the edu
cational environment—especially for
those most at risk—are available to
students and teachers in public
schools, those services should be
available to students and teachers in
private and religious schools.
ENVIRONMENT
We support policies that protect the
land, water and the air we share, and
encourage environmental protection,
sustainable development, and greater
justice in sharing the burdens of
environmental neglect and recovery.
HEALTH CARE
Any plan to reform the nation’s
health care system must be rooted in
values that respect human dignity,
protect human life, and meet the
unique needs of the poor. We support
health care that is affordable and
accessible to all. As part of our
efforts to achieve fundamental health
care reform, we will support meas
ures to strengthen Medicare and
Medicaid and work for incremental
measures that extend health care cov
erage to children, pregnant women,
workers, immigrants and other vul
nerable populations.
HOUSING
The lack of safe, affordable hous
ing is a national crisis. We support a
recommitment to the national pledge
of “safe and affordable housing” for
all and effective policies that will
increase the supply of quality hous
ing and preserve, maintain and im
prove existing housing. We promote
public/private partnerships, especial
ly those that involve religious com
munities.
IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
We seek basic protections for immi
grants, including due process rights,
access to basic public benefits, and
fair naturalization and legalization
opportunities. We oppose efforts to
stem migration that do not effectively
address its root causes and permit the
continuation of the political, social
and economic inequities that cause it.
... In protecting refugees, special con
sideration must be given to vulnerable
groups, including unaccompanied
children, single women and women
heads of families, and religious
minorities. Asylum must be afforded
(Continued on page I I)
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