“Catholics have been historically part of the Democratic party in great numbers and I think could have really stopped that development and movement if they had tried. But they didn’t,” Philadelphia archbishop Charles J. Chaput says in a new interview with the Catholic News Service, speaking about the Democrats’ “embrace” of abortion.
The issue of abortion, Archbishop Chaput says, “really is a big issue today.” And the issue “requires of Catholics” a “loyalty to the Church prior to their political party,” he says.
“We are Catholics before we are Democrat, we are Catholics before we are Republican, we are even Catholics before we are Americans,” Archbishop Chaput emphasizes, “because we know that God has a demand on us prior to any government demand on us.”
“This,” he adds, “has been the story of the martyrs through the centuries.”
Abortion, Archbishop Chaput says, “is a very serious issue that requires absolute adherence on the part of Catholics,” Chaput explains. “And if we don’t stand united on this issue, we’re bound to failure — not only in the area of protecting unborn human life but in maintaining our religious freedom,” he continues.
And lest you worry he’s forgotten he’s a spiritual shepherd and become a canvasser for the Grand Old Party in the latter-days of a presidential election, he cautions: “You cannot trust Republicans to be pro-life twenty years from now,” Chaput says. “You can’t let any party take your vote for granted. That’s unfortunately what’s happened. . . . That’s why the position of the Democrats has gotten worse and worse and worse . . . Catholics haven’t abandoned them.”
“We just have to be insistent. Catholic identity takes precedence over everything.”
Watch the interview, which begins with video footage of Paul Ryan and Joe Biden each explaining their approach to the issue of abortion:
We might not just save our own souls if we taking our voting lives seriously, we might just save our nation, too.