TimesLeader.com

November 3, 2008

Debate arises over best pro-life candidate

Priest backs McCain, but voter says Keyes, though unlikely to win, is more staunch on issue.

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

LAFLIN – Voters who plan to vote for the best pro-life candidate for president on Tuesday might have been left with their heads spinning if they listened to an exchange between a clergyman and a supporter of a third-party candidate after a local prayer service on Sunday.

While Augustinian Father Denis Wilde, a priest associate with the Priests for Life Apostolate, said people should vote for Arizona Sen. John McCain for president because of his pro-life beliefs, Paul Curtis, a supporter of third-party candidate Alan Keyes, said McCain’s record does not demonstrate that he’s pro-life, and Keyes is a staunch pro-life candidate.

The question seemed to boil down to whether it would be best to vote for the best pro-life candidate or voting for the best pro-life candidate who stands a chance of winning the election.

Wilde presided over a special “Holy Hour for Our Country” prayer service attended by about 100 people at the Oblates of St. Joseph Seminary in Laflin on Sunday afternoon.

The service included a benediction and a “Patriotic Rosary,” which included a “Hail Mary” prayer for people in each of the 50 states and U.S. territories, and the traditional five sections – or mysteries – of the rosary dedicated to the presidency, Supreme Court, Congress, governors and local government officials.

Wilde also spent part of the day Saturday in the area supporting pro-life issues, as he led a prayer service outside the Planned Parenthood center in Scranton.

A staunch pro-life advocate and activist even before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Roe v. Wade of 1973 that legalized abortion nationally, Wilde said that through the power of prayer, he hoped he accomplished “raising the sense of proportion on the life issues as all-important in our voting.”

Rose Bradley, 71, of Scranton, said she attended the service “to pray for a pro-life candidate.”

Bradley said “the grace of God came down” at the service, “and I think it gives people hope for the future of our country.” She said she will vote for Republican John McCain on Tuesday “because his policies are better economically and because he’s pro-life.”

As Bradley left the chapel after the service, 73-year-old Sue Curtis – Paul Curtis’ mother – handed her literature on Keyes, who is on the ballot in 29 states with America’s Independent Party.

Keyes’ supporters say that although McCain claims to be pro-life, his voting record does not support the claim because, among other things, he voted against human rights amendments and supports embryonic stem cell research.

Bradley handed the literature back to Curtis, saying “A vote for Alan Keyes is a vote for (Illinois Sen. Barack) Obama.”

Obama is a staunch pro-choice Democrat.

Back inside the chapel, Paul Curtis, 46, of Waymart, approached Wilde after the service and questioned Wilde’s support for McCain.

“McCain is the last person I wanted to vote for on the Republican side. But there’s no question that I’ve got to vote for him. And I think it’s foolish not to recognize that, because God is not saying that I take the position he’s taking. We try to do the thing that is going to stop the hemorrhaging, do something about the hemorrhaging,” Wilde said.

Curtis retorted that McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, believe the question of abortion rights should go back to the states to decide.

“If it goes back to the states – do you know before Roe v. Wade, over a dozen states already had some legal form of abortion? And we’re getting nowhere,” Curtis said.

Wilde disagreed.

“And so now you’re going to raise the banner for somebody that absolutely will not win and then say, ‘I voted for Alan Keyes and you voted for that sucker’? No, that’s pride. I’m sorry. I like (Keyes’) logic. I love his declaration of independence. … I think he’s tremendous. He’s a great philosopher. But are you going to feel good because you voted for somebody who’s not even going to be known in the papers the next day?” Wilde said.

Curtis replied, “We’re supposed to do what’s right and leave the rest up to God.”

Wilde responded that the question comes down to making “a rational choice. … I really feel that there’s a lack of prudence here. … I think at this point we need to look at the reality. If you want to throw your vote to somebody else, Obama wins,” he said.

After the discussion, Wilde said prayer is an important part of pro-life activism. “But there are other prongs, and that’s persuasion. We’ve got to persuade other people. And today I was preaching at the Masses. … We have to protect innocent human life – all stages, from the womb to tomb, the elderly too. We’ve seen this in euthanasia building up. Stem cell research, we’re arguing here,” he said.

Wilde said he agrees with Keyes’ supporters about opposing McCain’s recent stance on supporting embryonic stem cell research, but he believes McCain can do the most to move pro-life issues forward.

“His record shows that he’s done that. He’s limiting himself on the embryonic stem cell (issue). I have no idea what’s behind that, what vested interests have been pushing him in that direction. There’s confusion there. He’s changing, though, because he’s made different statements on it. And if he can say that life begins at conception as he did at Saddleback Church, without batting an eyelash, and then you hear Obama over here (saying), ‘Uh, uh, uh, that’s above my pay grade,’ the question is who seems to be moving in the right direction?” Wilde said.

“The problem is, that’s the choice we have. And this issue shouldn’t even be a question because we’re talking about killing here. We don’t want to say that … but the point is to see this issue for what it is. And I graphically put that to people because if it gets us off our carcass and lets us see what’s going on in this country 4,000 times a day, a million times a year, maybe we’ll start to think about this thing and not worry about if the economy is going to go up 300 points or down 300 points.

“We’re trying to raise the awareness of people to be concerned about the least of His brethren, which include, they’re not the only ones, but who include the unborn,” Wilde said.

Paul Curtis said he attended the service because Wilde is an associate with Priests for Life, and “one of their means of communiqu� is that we’re to limit evil, and I find that objectionable. If you’re a Christian, you should do what’s right and leave the rest up to God. It’s not about winning an election. It’s about doing the right thing and let the end result be what God wants.”

Curtis said Keyes is the “superior Christian candidate” and although his name is not on the ballot in Pennsylvania, voters can write it in.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005.