Catholic voters torn between church and political views

Choosing among the presidential candidates can be daunting for all Americans. But for some, there is more at stake: their faith.

In "Faithful Citizenship," a voting guide for parishioners, U.S. Catholic bishops urged voting with a well-formed conscience and to refrain from voting for candidates who support an "intrinsic evil" such as abortion, euthanasia and harvesting of embryonic stem cells.

Mitch Striedl, coordinator of youth outreach in the Respect Life office of Chicago's archdiocese, said it's a tricky subject for Catholic voters.

"It's your civic duty to vote, but then you have to be more informed and give more weight to these topics," Striedl said.

He described the process as a looking at a scale. He said a topic like abortion is a 5-pound weight, while issues regarding economic policy should be thought of as a 1 pound weight, reasoning "if you can't defend life in the beginning, then these other issues don't matter."

"Faithful Citizenship" outlined the need to base the voting decision on a wide spectrum of issues without pointing to a particular party or candidate. But Catholic voters were charged with taking the bishops' recommendations and using the criteria to pick one person.

For Joseph Blewitt, a senior at DePaul University, that person is U.S. Sen. John McCain.

"He's somebody who has a lot of integrity," Blewitt said. "He's never changed his position (on abortion)."

Blewitt said abortion is the No. 1 issue when he steps into the voting booth. "I realize the president doesn't set that policy," he said. "But I definitely pay attention because I think it speaks to a lot of their values."

Jennie Kuckertz, a sophomore at Loyola University Chicago, said for her, the difficulty is compounded because of her stance on other issues. Kuckertz, who describes herself as left-leaning, also strongly opposes the death penalty.

"For me personally, I probably will in the primary end up voting for (former Arkansas Gov. Mike) Huckabee just because (abortion) is the most important issue, and if you don't defend life from the very beginning, how are you going to respect it later on?" Kuckertz said.

"So as much as I hate voting for someone who supports the death penalty … I think it's choosing the lesser of the evils."

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul is the only candidate who is both anti-abortion and against capital punishment.

Norma McCorvey (Roe v. Wade's "Jane Roe") recently endorsed Paul, saying he "understands the importance of civil liberties for all, including the unborn."

Kuckertz said most of her friends who are anti-abortion are supporting either Huckabee or Paul. McCain and Mitt Romney also have voiced desire to overturn Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

The remaining Democratic candidates both oppose overturning Roe v. Wade.