Bishop Barron Extols the Qualities of Barabbas

Imagine a conversation among the Apostles after the Resurrection in which one says, “You know, Barabbas is not so bad. I know he’s a criminal but we must consider his intrinsic dignity.” Another replies: “I heard that he comes from an underprivileged background. Besides Saint Peter was a sinner too.”

The dialogue concludes: “I don’t see any difference between the two, they both have qualities and defects so why don’t we invite Barabbas to join us?”

Such an evaluation would be wrong since the two cases are not the same. Saint Peter did deny Our Lord, and later repented. He was appointed Vicar of Christ, led an exemplary life and died a martyr. He was the Rock upon which the Church was built. Barabbas was a notorious unrepentant criminal. He had the intrinsic dignity that comes from being human, but he lost his moral dignity by a life of sin.

This analogy is similar to what Bishop Barron is doing in his article about the upcoming elections. He extolls the “social good” in the leftist platform without recognizing any evil in it. He says that both left and right have good and bad points in their platforms. He provides little pastoral guidance in light of morals and faith.

In his October 6 article titled “Four Principles For Catholics During Election Season,” the popular bishop makes himself perfectly ambiguous by saying that “Catholic social teaching clearly goes beyond the split between Republican and Democrat, between liberal and conservative, and therefore corresponds perfectly with neither political camp.”¹

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No one contests that Church teaching does not correspond perfectly with any political party platform. However, a voter must judge using Catholic doctrine as a guide and has the moral obligation to support the party that represents a greater fidelity to this doctrine.

Bishop Barron further states that the Democratic Party promotes the underprivileged, migrants, refugees, the environment and fights against racism and capital punishment. However, it is one thing to promote these issues with a leftist spin, as if these issues belong to them. It is altogether different to understand them in the context of traditional Church teaching.

For example, some liberals promote open borders while Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches something quite different about the obligation a country has to accept and assimilate immigrants.²

Bishop Barron’s lack of thoughtful instruction to the laity is frightening. Nowhere does he make reference to the perennial doctrines as taught by Saint Thomas of Aquinas, Saint Benedict, Saint Augustine and Saint Robert Bellarmine. He seems to leave readers free to interpret according to their feelings free from the constraints of doctrinal underpinnings. Catholics need a solid foundation to deal with complex issues in the context of a world in crisis.

His second principle is an ambiguous support of life, which puts the opposition to abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment on the same footing. Again, he cites no great doctors of the Church to support his suggestion that these three issues have the same value.

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On sheer scale alone, abortion should take priority. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, there have been 61.8 million victims of abortion in the U.S. alone. Bishop Barron tries to bait those in favor of capital punishment by asking whose life is more important. This question is simply preposterous.

The two cannot be equated. Capital punishment involves far fewer people. Since 1976, 1,516 convicted criminals have been executed as a result of a fair trial and due process; something an aborted child was not given. An innocent child’s life is destroyed in the womb through no fault of its own versus a criminal who has chosen to commit a crime by an act of free will.

To set matters straight, abortion cannot be justified under any circumstances. Anyone who supports, assists in or advocates abortion is excommunicated according to Canon 1398: Qui abortum procurat, effectu secuto, in excommunicationem, latae sententiae, incurrat. (A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.)³

Bishop Barron’s third principle states that no Catholic can vote for a politician that supports a “morally repugnant position” ‘without balancing other considerations.’” Again, he presents pro-choice and capital punishment as if they are the same because they both take life implying that life is a supreme value.

If they are both equal, the voting decision becomes a matter of considering a candidate’s character or accomplishments. Sadly, Bishop Barron does not clarify that abortion is a sin and capital punishment is a good as it is necessary to satisfy Divine Justice for certain crimes.⁴

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He closes by saying that Catholics ought not disagree on matters of moral principle but only how best to achieve the principles in question. This is a perplexing principle since all Catholics should examine a politician’s platform according to morals and faith. There is no other way to understand if something is good or true.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of Bishop Barron’s guidelines is what he does not say.

He says absolutely nothing about the cutting edge of the sexual revolution found in the leftist transgender/homosexual agenda. The leftist effort to promote “rights” for transgenders and homosexuals is profoundly destructive to society and the Catholic Faith. Homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and cannot be justified under any circumstance.

Promoting same-sex “marriage” is a deathblow to the institution of the family, the cell of society. Legislation that obliges schools and businesses to accept the make-believe behavior of transgenders as “normal” forces an acceptance of moral relativism and destroys the logic and reason need to constitute society.

How is it that a bishop of the Holy Catholic Church could possibly miss mentioning the evils that the homosexual/transgender agenda is imposing upon society? How could he not warn the Faithful that the leftist platform supports every immoral proposition that violates the Sixth and Ninth Commandments?

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Regardless of what a cleric might do to adapt the Faith to modern culture, a layman can understand sufficient Catholic doctrine and apply it to a political party’s platform. No one has the right to do evil and therefore abortion and homosexuality must be opposed since they are at the forefront of the leftist agenda today.

Do not be deceived by the sophistic arguments of liberals. Catholic doctrine is available for anyone who cares to be informed.

Be informed, don’t choose Barabbas.

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