From October 2010 – The Bishop’s Bulletin
Several years ago when I was rector of St. Raphael Cathedral in Madison, Wisconsin I gave a homily on Respect Life Sunday which emphasized what the Church has always taught, the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death and that the killing of innocent life is an intrinsic evil. After Mass as I was greeting people, one person in a raised voice angrily berated me for using the homily to endorse one candidate and oppose another candidate for the United States Senate. I had not mentioned either of the candidates. The fact was in the election that year one major party candidate was consistently pro-life and the other was pro-abortion, neither were Catholics. For this person the teaching of the church, no different that year from the year before, had become political. The uncomfortable truth perhaps pricked the conscience.