The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Vote and Be Damned: "In an interview with The Times's David Kirkpatrick, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver said a knowing vote for a candidate like Mr. Kerry who supports abortion rights or embryonic stem cell research would be a sin that would have to be confessed before receiving communion. 'If you vote this way, are you cooperating in evil?' the archbishop asked. 'Now, if you know you are cooperating in evil, should you go to confession? The answer is yes.'"
And if you put money in the basket every week that goes to the Chancery that pays off lawsuit settlements which protect priests who molest children from criminal prosecution, are you cooperating in evil? The answer is yes. Now if you know you are cooperating in evil, should you go to confession? The answer is yes. Should you consider whether the institution which your weekly contributions support is corrupt beyond salvation or at least in need of radical reformation? The answer is yes. If the Chancery closes down your parish because the financial costs of thirty years of quiet deals to protect child-molesters has finally caught up with them, should you consider visiting the church of some other denomination in your town which manages to serve the Lord without protecting child-molesters? That's a question of conscience and faith.
