Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki has told area Catholics that he “could not and would not support a candidate” whose position on life runs contrary to the Catholic Church.
In the letter to parishioners on March 28, 2023, with the state Supreme Court race looming, Listecki did not mention left-wing candidate Janet Protasiewicz by name. However, Protasiewicz, a Catholic, has been very vocal about her support for abortion, which runs contrary to the position of the Catholic Church and of Listecki.
Protasiewicz is running against former Justice Dan Kelly in the Tuesday election.
“I could not and would not support a candidate whose position on life is contrary to the teachings of the Church – a position contrary to the teachings and love of Jesus,” Listecki wrote Catholics. “A personally imposed blindness to this most fundamental of all rights for human beings would have us support the agenda of the evil one embracing the darkness over the light. Did I do ‘something to protect the innocent?'”
He added: “We must also take responsibility for the lack of support for the protection of the innocent when we vote for candidates and laws that liberalize abortion laws. There is nothing enlightened about an individual who fails to realize that the denial of the right to life for the most vulnerable among us is an attack on the dignity and personal value of every citizen.”
Message from Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki: "I could not and would not support a candidate whose position on life is contrary to the teachings of the Church – a position contrary to the teachings and love of Jesus." Read the whole thing. #VoteLikeYouLoveGod pic.twitter.com/k4ZMMsL48K
— Vicki McKenna (@VickiMcKenna) March 29, 2023
Listecki wrote to Catholics in the area, “We are responsible for our actions and also for our inactions in the face of evil and sin. Many who oppose the Church’s teachings will characterize their positions as something other than what they truly are. They mask the horror of the act that they are supporting. Current positions on abortion state that it’s a woman’s health issue or that it is a ‘right.’”
He continued, “Imagine if those supporting slavery claimed that it was a right of ownership – not the denial of a person’s dignity, but an economic right. Slavery supports the economy. Would there be anyone knowing the dignity of the human person, who would support that justification?”
Said Listecki:
“There is only one problem with the pro-abortion argument – it is not pro choice. It is pro death and the reality is that a life is taken. Imagine this gruesome sight – a fully developed infant, nine months in the womb, and then this preborn is sliced up. Now, imagine a year-old infant, sliced up. Underneath the picture of the nine-month, fully developed preborn is the statement: ‘This action is protected by the law,’ and underneath the one year old is the statement, ‘This is an act of murder.’”
“The killing of the innocent has never been supported by Catholic Church teachings. As citizens we have an obligation to support the laws that protect the innocent. We must take our responsibility as citizens before God’s judgment for the times we have supported the destruction of the innocent.”
