Here. Fr. Andrew was invited to lead the opening prayer at the 2012 Colorado Republican State Assembly and Convention in the Magness Arena at the University of Denver. The moral challenges facing our country are not caused by political affiliation, but rather by attacks on religious freedom. He invites all people of conscience to uphold religious freedom.
“The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with ‘communism’ or ‘socialism’.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church 2425
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Fr. Andrew is a wonderful priest. I went to his parish for the Easter Vigil this past Easter Season and it was by far the most beautiful Liturgy I have ever attended (and I am Eastern Rite)! And during the Prayers of the Faithful they prayed for the intentions of the Blessed Virgin Mary! He is a wonderful pastor and he deserves many prayers for his courage.
God bless this priest for his words but it seems rather naive of him (or anyone else for that matter) to think that the Republicans are really all that different than the Democrats. Surely I do believe that the Republicans are a better choice in some respects than the Democrats but let’s face it, neither party gives a rats you know what about Truth. Both parties basically follow a this world pragmatic “business as usual” way of operating. When neither party cares about truth or seems willing to do anything other than pay lip service to defending it than why should folks like me want to vote or even care whatsoever about politics?
As I’ve said before, the only way we can win the culture war anymore is with civil disobedience and the witness to the culture at large of being “fools for Christ.” We cannot win in politics or in the courts, as both the political and legal system are themselves filled with those who are the avowed enemies of religious belief but most especially Catholicism and as regards the law itself, much of it has been used as a weapon to sever religion from anything but the private sphere. The pluralist secularist idea of “religious freedom” is basically to say that we can believe whatever we want so long as it does not impact education, business or politics. Arguably don’t we already have this much? We cannot win by using tools given to us by those who are at war with us. The Church needs to wake up and realize this.
God bless this priest for trying though, as he has more faith in these political hacks and a broken system then I do. All I am willing to do is to pray much, keep the Faith and do what I can for those that I come into contact with in my workplace, home, etc. I have lost all faith in a political or legal solution to the culture war.
Hello Justin,
Be careful not to relegate religion to the private sphere by letting others be an excuse not to posit a publically effective action like a vote, for which vote untold numbers have given their lives, right after Holy Mass and Confession, even general absolution before going into direct battle. These brave men gave us a great deal of time, of peace. Have Americans abused that time and peace. Sure, mostly by ourselves not giving the example we ought to have given during that time and peace.
Voting for those who have no idea, but who are incomparably better than others is, I think, an obligation. Nuns in papal cloister would be mandated to vote by their local ordinaries, yes, before Vatican II! Voting is a civic duty in a democracy, a chance to limit damage. Christ Jesus also uses our efforts. These efforts are not to be thought of as useless. It is an act of charity with millions of people as beneficiaries.
Yes, pray. And, like Thomas More, we should like to govern the world with prayer. Others have different ideas. Martyrs… yes. But, as Sir Thomas also said, the Lord has given us wits to escape death. We can use those wits to vote, to escape death while we can, to have religious liberty while we can, to have children and baptize them and have Holy Communion available and the time to prepare a good death… all that. But if we are called ultimately to be martyrs, praise the Lord!
Father you are right!. Many good men (and some women too) have given their lives defending our right to a free democracy. To throw that right away because we are displeased by the currrent state of affairs is to place shame on us and a make mockery of their sacrifice.
I don’t blame Justin for being fed up with politicians who display all the wrong attributes, but we can’t give up. We have to vote and pray and fight for what is right. Jesus said, “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.”
Matthew 10:16 RHE Douay-Rheims
Not much has changed since Jesus spoke those words.