National Review interviews Archbishop Chaput on Catholics in Political Life

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput was interviewed by Kathryn Lopez of the National Review, touching on the obligations of Catholic voters and legislators and other topics pertaining to his new book, Render Under Caesar: Serving the National by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life:

Lopez: What should it mean when I’m “voting Catholic?”

Archbishop Chaput: We should see ourselves as Catholic first — not white or black, or young or old. or Democrat or Republican, or labor militant or business owner, but Catholic first as the main way we identify ourselves. Our faith should shape our lives, including our political choices. Of course, that demands that we actually study and deepen our Catholic faith. The Catholic faith isn’t a set of clothes that we can tailor to a personal fit. We don’t “invent” our faith, and we don’t “own” it. If we really want to be Catholic, then we’ll live by Catholic teaching. Otherwise we’re just fooling ourselves and abusing the belief of other Catholics who really do try to practice what the Church teaches.

Lopez: What extra responsibilities do Catholic politicians have?

Archbishop Chaput: Catholic public officials have a duty to see their work not merely as a job or a profession, but as a vocation flowing out of their Baptism. Every Christian has an obligation to continue the work of Christ’s redemption and to help sanctify and humanize the world. Obviously, Catholic politicians serve believers and non-believers alike. They need to respect the proper autonomy of secular affairs. But in dispensing justice and administering power, they serve the common good, and the common good is always tied to moral truth. Their religious faith should be their moral compass.

[...]

Lopez: Is there an abortion litmus test for Catholics?

Archbishop Chaput: “Litmus test” is a media expression that’s front-loaded with the assumption of some priestly censor checking off behavioral-compliance boxes. That’s not how any sincere believer thinks about his or her faith. Faithful Catholics want to live their faith fully — and one of the principles of Catholic social teaching is that we can never deliberately kill innocent human life. Abortion always, deliberately kills an innocent unborn child. Nobody can honestly claim to be a faithful Catholic and then support a false “right” to abortion; it’s just an elegant way of evading the brutality of what abortion actually does.

Lopez: Is there any virtue to the Cuomo-esqe personally opposed, etc. formula we see over and over again with politicians, especially Democrats?

Archbishop Chaput: The problem isn’t unique to either political party, and no, there’s no virtue to the “personally opposed” argument at all. The word “virtue” comes from the Latin virtus meaning strength or courage. I don’t see much courage in maneuvering around the reality of abortion with sanitized labels like “pro-choice.”

Lopez: Whenever I write about Catholics and abortion, I am immediately asked, “What about war? What about the death penalty?” What about them? Can a Catholic vote for Senator “Surge”? We have killed people in Iraq, after all.

Archbishop Chaput: I’ve written and spoken against the death penalty for more than 30 years. And along with most other American bishops, I opposed our intervention in Iraq. But these issues are different in kind, not merely degree, from the violence involved in abortion. Anyone rooted in Scripture and Catholic tradition will understand the distinction if he or she reasons honestly. Genocide, euthanasia, abortion, and deliberately targeting civilians in war — these things are always grievously wrong. But in Catholic thought, war and capital punishment can be morally legitimate under certain carefully defined circumstances. Abortion is never morally justified. ...

Read the whole interview with Archbishop Chaput.