A Foreign Threat to Our Democracy

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 following are quotes from the comments following his prayer. The video is included at the end.

We know that these social issues of today are being under attack, but at their core is this Biblical understanding of marriage.

This is an issue between democracy and socialism.

As a Catholic, I have earned a free pass to talk about socialism because others who have stood with us have died at the hands of socialists for the past two centuries.

Whenever we have our religious liberties stopped, it is a hallmark of socialism and will never be compatible with Christianity.

We believe conscience and private property are not human ideas. They come from God, not from humans.

Socialism will never be compatible with our democracy the way we have it.

As we face this third century of this threat, I as a Catholic invite everyone of conscience to join us as people have in the past—to join this fight against the threat of our religious liberty.

And I assure you, that if we do not stand up and be counted at this time, we know the price that has to be paid if we lose this fight. And as a Catholic, I assure you, we will pay that price again.

Socialism is a foreign threat to our democracy.

"The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with 'communism' or 'socialism.'"
—Catechism of the Catholic Church 2425