The good folks over at National Catholic Reporter have flagged the statement from Memphis Bishop J. Terry Steib who says Catholics need not be single-issue (i.e., abortion) voters. When measuring a candidate who does not embrace the full measure of Catholic teaching, Steib says there are other issues that matter.
Steib said was most clear in his articulation when he borrowed from Father Ronald Rolheiser:
“In an age of increasing violence, fundamentalism, and the myth that God wishes to cleanse the planet of its sin and immorality by force, perhaps the first witness we must give to our world is a witness to God’s non-violence, a witness to the God revealed by Jesus Christ who opposes violence of all kinds, from war, to revenge, to capital punishment, to abortion, to euthanasia, to the attempt to use force to bring about justice and God’s will in any way.”
Here’s my question, and I’m not entirely sure how to say this: Steib, like Barack Obama, is black. It’s hard not to wonder if Steib feels the “pinch of history” that so many political observers have mentioned in the prospect of the nation’s first black president. Is he, as a black bishop, looking for a way to pull the lever for another black man, whom so many of his brother bishops have condemned as unacceptable on the abortion issue?
I don’t know, but I couldn’t help but ask.