According to a November 6, 2008 article by the Catholic News Service (http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0805649.htm), Catholics who regularly attended church did indeed vote in the majority for McCain. However, compared to 2004, Obama managed to trim the margin of victory by quite a bit. Bush won regular church attending Catholics in 2004 by a margin of 64% to 35% (for Kerry). In 2008, McCain ended up with only 55% of regular church attending Catholics compared to Obama’s 46%. What a gain for Obama and what a travesty for Catholic catechism.

I happen to know several Obama supporting Catholics who regularly attend Mass. These folks consider themselves to be religious and are not complete strangers to the Bible. They are, unfortunately, the product of a Kumbaya catechism that has plagued several generations of Catholics. In Kumbaya catechism, reason is supplanted by pure emotion. It is the equivalent of exchanging meat and potatoes for a bowl of sugar. It shouldn’t be any wonder then that so many church going Catholics were wooed by the emotion laden Obama campaign.

Church going Catholics should be a demographic overwhelmingly at home in a pro-life Republican Party. Better catechism and old-fashioned evangelization can bring this about.  If you know an Obama Catholic and know that he takes his religion seriously, then you have a voter that can possibly be turned against Obama in 2012.  A greater understanding of the life issue is all it takes. And, when speaking about life, don’t, at first, bring up Obama or his policies. Leave the president-elect out of the conversation.  Begin with a question such as, “Our Catholic faith instructs that life begins at conception . . . what do you think is the reason for this belief?”

Even from a regular church going Catholic, you may get an answer along the lines of some conspiracy to suppress human sexuality. Don’t be distracted by that line of argument. It’s a red herring and most people that drag that one out don’t even realize it themselves. Instead, redirect and ask whether or not there’s any Biblical description of what exactly is present at conception. Is it a person? Maybe a partial person? How about a potential person? If, at conception, we have a fully human person, then does he have the right to life or is he the property of his mother, who may lord over him while he is in the womb, even determining his life or death?

A weakly catechized Catholic, steeped in Kumbaya religion, will not know the answers, nor have the intellectual tools to discover the answers. Don’t let him off the hook. Challenge him to think.

Talk about the first joyful mystery of the Rosary and indicate that you believe this conclusively proves full human personhood at the moment of conception.  Your friend may counter that he isn’t aware that the Annunciation (i.e. the first joyful mystery of the Rosary) demonstrates full human personhood at conception. He may even express incredulity. It’s your job to rationally prove it and here’s how using a simple three step argument.

Here’s a summary of the argument:

Step 1 – Remind him of the theology of the Trinity.

Step 2 – Remind him of the theology of Christ.

Step 3 – Tie the theology of the Trinity and the theology of Christ to the Annunciation, thus proving full-fledged human personhood at the moment of conception.

And, here’s the argument in detail:

Step 1 – Reminding him of the theology of the Trinity: The Catholic Church, as do many mainstream Christian denominations, understands God as 3 persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in a single, divine nature. We do not have 3 separate gods. Rather, we have 3 divine persons in a single Godhead. Every time a Catholic crosses himself, he acknowledges God as Trinity.

In the Bible, “The Word” is recognized as the second person of the Holy Trinity. It is the Word that became flesh at the incarnation. The important point to remember here is that The Word is a person.

Step 2 – Reminding him of the theology of Christ: Next try to bring about a fuller understanding of whom exactly is Jesus Christ according to the Catholic Church. Mention that Jesus is understood as a single person with 2 natures. One nature is fully divine and another nature is fully human. The two natures of Jesus Christ are inseparably joined in a single person. Again, try to highlight the idea that in Christ, you have only one person.

Step 3 – Tie the theology of the Trinity and the theology of Christ to the Annunciation:  Talk about the event of the incarnation, when Mary famously said to the Angel Gabriel in Luke 1:38 “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” This is the first joyful mystery of the Rosary. It was at this precise moment in time that the second person of the Holy Trinity (The Word) became flesh. In other words, Jesus Christ was conceived and started his earthly life as a single-celled human being. So, was the one-celled Jesus Christ a full-fledged human person or not?

The answer is yes and its proof is really very simple if you think about it for a few moments. Before the incarnation, the second person of the Holy Trinity is already a person. He’s The Word. After the incarnation, The Word does not cease to be a person. On the contrary, post incarnation, The Word still has a fully divine nature and is still a person. Now, however, after the incarnation, He also has a fully human nature. Those two natures are inseparably joined in a single person. Therefore, we have a biblical example of full-fledged human personhood beginning at the moment of conception.

Your Obama supporting Catholic may respond that this is true in just one special case, that of Jesus Christ. For the rest of us who are not God, full human personhood may not start at conception. This is a pretty reasonable point, but an easy one to dismantle.  You need only remind him that Christ possessed a fully human nature, just like yours or mine, but without the stain of original sin. And, original sin does not affect our personhood. Original sin only means that we are subject to Adam’s covenantal failure and therefore subject to the punishment of death.

Now that you’ve made your proof, it’s time to gently challenge your friend. In Christ we have an example of full human personhood at the moment of conception. Since Christ is fully human like you or me, then full human personhood from the moment of conception also applies to all other human beings as well. Abortion, therefore, ends the life a full-fledged human person and it happens over a million times annually in the United States alone. This is why the Catholic Church is so adamantly opposed to abortion. It kills the most innocent and weak among us and it does so in epic quantities.

I suggest that you conclude your argument here. Don’t expect to win over your friend in one fell swoop. Don’t expect a Saul to Paul conversion. Instead, let the information steep. You’ve planted an initial seed and you’ve got a pocketful of other seeds in waiting. Leave it for another day. Hopefully, your friend will think more on the topic and even investigate it himself. Pray that God grants him wisdom and that he is receptive to that grace. In time he may see the importance of defending life and come to vote that way too.