コワーイお話

ある観光客が、サンフランシスコはフィッシャーメンス・ウォーフのある骨董屋に入った。店内の土産物を眺めていた彼は、ふと、実物大のまるで生きているかのようなネズミの彫刻に気づいた。

値札はなかったが、気になったので、男はそれをぜひ買いたいと思った。

彼は店の主人のところへその彫刻を持っていった。「このブロンズのネズミはいくらかね？」

「ネズミは２０ドル。それにまつわるお話は１００ドルですが…」と主人は答えた。

彼は財布から２０ドル出した。「ネズミだけでいいよ。お話の方はいらない。」

ところが、手に入れたブロンズのネズミを持って通りを歩いているうち、彼は、本物のネズミが何匹か路地や下水溝から這い出してきたのに気付いた。ネズミたちは男についてきたのだ。

これに参ってしまった彼は足早に歩き始めた。ところが、数ブロックも行かないうちに、彼のあとをついてくるネズミの群れは何百匹にもなってしまい、キーキー鳴きながらついてくるではないか。

彼は海岸に向かって走り始めた。ネズミはもう、何百万匹もいるのではないかという勢いである。しかも、相変わらず鳴き声をあげながら、彼に迫ってくる。

この可哀想な男はもうパニック状態だった。波止場まで走って行くと、彼はそのネズミの彫刻を、海に向かって力一杯放り投げた。

驚いたことに、そして何よりうれしいことに、何百万匹もいたネズミは、それを追いかけて、一匹残らず海に飛び込み、溺れ死んでしまった。

男は大急ぎで骨董品屋へ帰って行った。

「あの彫刻にまつわるエピソードが聞きたくなったんでしょう？ 分かってますよ」　と店の主人が言った。

「いいや」　男は答えた。「もしかして、この店には、民主党員（DEMOC-RAT）の彫刻もあるんじゃないかと思ってね。」

　　 　　 　　 　

蛇足…米国ではカトリック信者の貧しい移民は伝統的に民主党に投票していたものです。しかし、近頃、特に不倫豚大統領の時代からは、中絶容認が民主党の党是となり、熱心なカトリック信者であれば必ず共和党に一票を投じるようになりました。しかし、米国の司教・司祭たちの指導は不徹底で、カトリック信者でありながら民主党のゴア氏に投票した者は63％もいたといわれます。一方、プロテスタントはわずか43％が同氏に投票しました。回勅『フマネ・ヴィテ』を真面目に受け止めるカトリック信者たちは、今回の選挙でブッシュ氏当選のために祈ったものです。カトリック信者がゴア氏に投票したのであれば、これは客観的には大罪、大問題です。

蛇足の成相

蛇足の蛇足
「不倫豚大統領」という言い方は撤回します。クリントン大統領と読み替えてください。やはり礼を失すると思います。豚に…

Priests for Life のフランク・パヴォーネ神父様の活躍については、英語ですが、以下をご覧下さい。

　　 　　 　　 　

As he walks down the street carrying his bronze rat, he notices a few REAL rats crawling out of alleys and sewers.  These rats begin following him down the street.

This totally unsettles the guy.  He begins walking faster. But within a couple blocks, the herd of rats behind him grows into the hundreds, and now they're squealing their eerie squeal.

He begins a jog toward the Bay, looking around to see that the rats are now numbered in what looks like MILLIONS -- squealing and coming toward him faster and faster.

At that point the poor guy panics, runs to the edge of the Bay and hurls the bronze rat as far out into the Bay as he can.

Amazingly -- & to his utter relief -- the millions of rats ALL jump into the Bay in their continued pursuit of the bronze rat and are all drowned.

The man hurriedly walks back to the curio shop.
" Ah ha," says the owner, " You have come back for the story!"

" Nope," says the man, " I came back to see if you have a bronze DEMOCRAT."

　　 　　 　　 　

CAUTION: Telling this story could be construed as either a hate crime or an ethnic slur. At best, it's the ultimate in ugly partisanship.

だれか訳して下さい。

Vote Smart
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

For the past year, Priests for Life has conducted a major effort to prepare believers for the upcoming elections. We have endorsed no candidates, but simply offer pastoral formation and guidance based on the teachings of the Church, particularly the documents Living the Gospel of Life and Faithful Citizenship.

One pastoral question that keeps arising is whether it is morally permissible to vote for a candidate who has a realistic chance of winning and is better than his or her opponent, but who is not as good as another candidate who is running but does not have enough of a base of support to be elected now. Of course it is.

While some call this voting for " the lesser of two evils," it really isn't. We may never choose evil, but we may choose good even when evil is mixed in with it. When we vote for someone in order to improve the current policies, that improvement is itself a good, even when it isn't perfect.

" But if this is true," some will ask, " how will we ever get to the point of electing someone whose positions reflect more fully the Church's teachings?"

The answer is that we will get there when we are able to build enough of a base of support throughout the nation for such a candidate. But such a base of support is not built in a vacuum. The current policies of the nation, the lessons taught by Supreme Court decisions, and the teaching and example of those in public office go a long way to create a certain climate which is either favorable or unfavorable to the conversion of minds and hearts, and to the formation of the young. Conversion is, of course, the key element in building the support necessary to elect more favorable candidates. We need to keep our mind on long term goals, without ignoring the impact which the short-term results have on our ability to reach those goals.

So let us move forward, recognizing both the opportunity and limitations of voting. No single election brings about the resolution of our nation's problems. By the act of voting, we are neither waving a magic wand, nor are we making statements about what is perfect. What we are doing, instead, is attempting to place in positions of public trust those whom we believe can make the best improvement possible at the present time in the public policy of our nation.

If the result of the elections of 2000 is national leadership that more closely reflects our values, may we not for a moment fall into the trap of thinking that the government will do our work for us. We are called to be ever vigilant in bearing witness to the faith in our personal lives. And if the elections bring our nation further from our values, may we not for a moment despair, but rather summon renewed courage and confidence to proclaim the Word of God, which, in His good time, indeed shall renew the face of the earth.

Contact Priests for Life at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; Tel: 888-PFL-3448, 718-980-4400; Fax: 718-980-6515; email: publications@priestsforlife.org;
web: www.priestsforlife.org

TO:         Priests for Life Staff
FROM:     Office of the Executive Director

Dear Staff,

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all the hard work you put in these last few months on our " Campaign 2000." As you know, the goal of this effort was to make abortion a top election issue with both voters and those running for elective office. It's too early to tell how successful we were, but from all the positive feedback we have gotten from bishops, priests, and Catholic lay people around the country, I think it is safe to say we had a PROFOUND effect on the 2000 elections.

I want to use the example of Florida to illustrate just how significant our work was. As you know, there are over 2 million Catholics living in Florida. For this reason, we targeted the state in a special way.

Our goal, from the outset, was NOT to endorse any candidates or political parties. As a non-profit organization, we are strictly non-partisan. Our only objective was to educate our people about their moral obligation as Catholics and Christians to vote for candidates who respect the dignity of human life, from conception till natural death.

Exit polls now show that George W. Bush received 52% of the Catholic vote in Florida, while Al Gore received 44%. Bear in mind, Catholic voters make up 26% of the Florida electorate.  As of this date, it looks as if George W. Bush has won the state of Florida by as little as a 154 votes.

Let me recap for you what Priests for Life actually did in the state of Florida prior to the November 7th election:

1)  We took out one full-page ad in the New York Times and two full-page ads in USA Today, newspapers that have a combined circulation in Florida of over 200,000.

2)  We took out full-page ads in five of Florida's diocesan newspapers, with combined circulations of 150,000.

3)  We sent four " emergency" faxes to all 449 Catholic parishes in Florida, urging pastors to proclaim the message of pro-life political responsibility in their churches.

4)  We sent four mailings to every single one of the 1330 priests in the state of Florida, encouraging them to preach about abortion and the election, and urging them to place our Priests for Life inserts in their parish bulletins.

5)  Fr. Frank Pavone taped a powerful TV special on political responsibility, many Public Service Announcements, and a live political homily that were all broadcast on EWTN just prior to the election. In Florida, EWTN is broadcast into close to 3 million homes.

6)  In response to requests from residents in Florida, we provided sample " Letters to the Editor" that were sent by 326 individuals to 15 Floridian newspapers, with a combined circulation of 2 million.

7)  We made several literature drops in Florida--- totaling about 100,000 flyers. 

8)  In the last three months alone, our four full-time priests visited Florida three times, speaking at a total of eight parishes, to a combined total of 25,000 families.

9)  Fr. Pavone sent special letters to 11 of Florida's Bishops, thanking them for all their pro-life statements, and encouraging them to ask their priests to proclaim the message of political responsibility in their parishes.

10)  Fr. Pavone and the other full-time priests were interviewed numerous times on Florida statewide radio programs as well as national radio programs reaching millions of Florida radio listeners. He also taped shows on political responsibility and abortion for WEWN, which reaches 1.6 million listeners in the Florida area.

Naturally, this short list does not take into account all the free press our activities attracted in Florida newspapers and TV/radio outlets throughout the campaign.

Once again, on behalf of Fr. Frank, I want to thank you for all the hard work and long hours you put into this effort. The fate of millions of unborn babies hung in the balance on November 7th. We tried our best to get one message out to the general public: Abortion should be the most important issue for Catholics and for all citizens of this democracy in ANY election. And ONLY candidates who support the pro-life cause are worthy to hold public office. Because of the dedication of Fr. Frank and the staff of Priests for Life, I'm sure many of the babies whose lives were at stake now have a fighting chance to live.

Sincerely,
Anthony DeStefano
Executive Director