Regarding how legislators voted on issues of interest to the Maryland Catholic Conference (CR, July 15): There was near-total agreement with the MCC position on abortion funding and stem cell funding by legislators from legislative districts 1-9. In Baltimore City districts, by contrast, there was near-total opposition to the MCC position on these two important issues.
Recorded as well were positions on seven minor issues where the MCC took a position – unemployment benefits, in-state tuition for immigrants, etc. The impression given is that these are “Catholic” issues, of generally equal weight.
The attentive reader will scrutinize his/her own legislator’s record. However, the evident equality of issues is misleading. Representatives who have consistently voted pro-life are aligned with Catholic teaching; perennial advocates for abortion oppose that teaching. Something as clear and important as that should not be cluttered with lesser issues.
It’s a wonder that MCC took a position at all on issues remote from Catholic doctrine or teaching, and doubly wondrous that they ranked them parallel to the abortion issue. Voters turn to The Catholic Review to obtain helpful information. The July 15 report only served to blur the important distinction between pro-life and pro-abortion legislators.