The Roman Catholic Church is caught up in ugly partisan politics as Donald Trump attempts to assert himself as the only Right To Life Candidate for the 2020 Presidency of the United States of America. To decide if this is true one needs to look into the Social Teachings of the Church. If one knows, believes,loves and follows the Catholic teachings on Social Justice, one knows that ALL of life is to be valued ,from the womb to the tomb and ALL instances in between. All life is God-given and worth living with all the quality of living needed to live. All immigrants and strangers are entitled to their right to life wherever they and their children can truly live and thrive. All who have mental or physical challenges, both abilities and “disabilities” are entitled to a right to the fullness of life. All- of any culture, race, social class, language, color or of any particular religion or other persuasion are entitled to life. All of either gender or both genders or transgenders are entitled to the fullness of life. All of any sexual orientation including those somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum are entitled to the fullness of life. All of any age, from pre-birth to death, the young and the old and the very old and those in between are entitled to the right to life. All human beings anywhere are entitled to respect, dignity, compassion, mercy and freedom from armed conflicts and war-all deserve LIFE.

This includes (in no particular order as all are important) challenging archaic death penalties or state appointed murder as a solution to even the most horrendous crimes. The death-penalty is a right to life issue. Compassionate treatment of all immigrants is a right to life issue. Nuclear disarmament and PEACE are right to life issues . Access to food and water and compassionate care for all is a right to life issue. This includes full access to an income, food and shelter,education and health care both preventive and remediative for ALL. This also includes attention to the ecological perspective for both humans and animals, for the rain forests and all of the environment, and all living things. Love and care for God’s Creation is a right to life response. Cruelty or disregard for any living being (human or animal of any type) is the opposite of the right to live within Catholic Social Justice teachings. Believing in the right to life includes not “bad-mouthing” and ghettoizing any individual or group of people. Valuing and championing all of these rights to life are, arguably,the most important rules we live by-the essence of the Golden Rule- LOVE your neighbor as yourself- emphasized by Jesus and an essential part of all the world’s major religions. If we love all of our neighbors- no exceptions– we make very different policies and programs and uphold actions that uphold the right to life of all-not only the unborn and not only those like ourselves.

Here is the link to an excellent article by Tom Roberts of NCR Online on this topic of the right to life and the way the Church is being used and manipulated in ugly partisanship. I thank Ellen McNally President of our SW Florida CTA-Call To Action- group for sharing this article.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/ncr-connections/trump-seals-his-catholic-deal?

Let us open our eyes and see what is happening and act accordingly to support the universal right to life of all beings.

Love and blessings,
Pastor Judy
Rev. Dr Judy Lee,RCWP,DMin,DSW,MS
Pastor The Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community, Fort Myers, Florida