Skip to main content

Catholics and Faithful Citizenship

By

From the Catholic News Service courtesy of today's Angelus News:

'Faithful Citizenship' reminder:  Gospel cannot be parsed in partisan terms

This article, and the corresponding document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" is a must read for all Catholic adults eligible to vote!  And one thing that makes our Catholic tradition unique is that no deacon, no priest, or no bishop will tell you how to vote, and any political messaging from the pulpit is expressly (and morally) forbidden.  That said, the Church does recognize that we all have a duty to "responsible citizenship."  In this country, that includes VOTING!  To shirk that responsibility, I believe, undermines the freedoms and rights for which too many people have died (and continue to die) to get and keep.

If there's anything I've noticed about most Catholics and most Voters, it's that they fail to do their homework.  Too few Catholics really understand the faith they profess.  They may know what the Church preaches, but few dig deeper to understand why she preaches what she preaches.  They rest on what they learned as children and fail to continue their learning up to an adult level of understanding.  Many voters, similarly, tend not to dig deep enough into their ballots and voter guides to fully appreciate and understand the candidates and the various initiatives.  You should not just walk into a voting booth without first doing your homework.  There are many of the down-ticket candidates (school board, judges) and lesser known initiatives that deserve our attention as much as the more popular issues and candidates.

Bottom line, even though it may take some time, you should read this article and read the document.  I think you will find it enlightening, even if it takes a bit to get through.  I also have to say, with regard to the introductory letter, that I think our bishops are still driving down a misguided path.  In that letter they say, "The threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself."  I have said, and will continue to say, that making this the "preeminent priority" is a failure to recognize all the other issues that should be more important.  Homelessness, poverty, wage equity, social equity, sexual equity, and universal rights to healthcare should all come before this issue for the simple reason that if we get traction on resolving these other issues they will affect the social reality of the abortion issue.  In other words, solve poverty and you can help solve abortion.  Help solve gender equity, and you can help solve abortion.  You cannot separate abortion from the systemic issues that can bring people to abortion.  

Further, it makes us look like a one issue church that fails to listen to the other issues facing the faithful.  It makes our bishops look tone-deaf to the many other needs of the faithful and our communities.  But that's just what I think.  What do you think?  And yes, as faithful Catholics we CAN have a difference of opinion.  

Let me be clear, however:  As a Catholic and as a Catechist, I believe abortion is wrong.  But I also believe you can't legislate morality, especially when there are so many other systemic issues surrounding the issue of abortion that need to be addressed, and that we as a church have failed to make our case to our greater society.  Our support for the unborn looks hypocritical when looking at the lack of support for those children and people in need who have been born.  But what do you have to say?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B

By
Who speaks for the Lord?  Do you have to be a prophet?  A priest?  A bishop?  The Pope?  What about you?  The answer, according to our readings this week, is “whomever God calls,” and that could be you. The Word for the 26tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Numbers 11:25-29 Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14 James 5:1-6 Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 Our first reading comes from the Book of Numbers.  This book is a continuation of the Exodus story, from the point where they leave the Sinai (after receiving the Law) to the point where they are ready to enter the Promised Land.  The book gives us some history of these years interspersed with sections of legal codes.  This Sunday’s passage deals with the commissioning the elders, those 70 individuals chosen by Moses to receive some of the Spirit so that they may prophesy (preach) among the people.  But during this time there were two men, Eldad and Medad, who were not with the group at the tent, but who also recei...
Post a Comment
Read more

3rd Sunday of Advent - Cycle C

By
“Shout for Joy!”  The opening lines of our first reading expresses the feelings we should be having during this third Sunday of Advent.  Also known as Gaudete Sunday (Latin for “rejoice”), we celebrate that we have now past the half-way point of our penitent reflection – the “hump day” of Advent, if you will.  What have we to be so joyful about?  Our readings provide the answer: The Word for the 3rd Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3:14-18a Psalm 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke3:10-18 Our first reading comes from the Book of the Prophet Zephaniah.  Though we don’t hear from Zephaniah very often in our Sunday Liturgies, and though the book itself isn’t that long (only 3 chapters), the importance of his message not only can be seen in his predecessors Jeremiah and Baruch, but may even have had a profound effect on the Judean monarchy itself by moving King Josiah to begin his campaign of religious reform.  Our passage this week, though similar to the passages...
Post a Comment
Read more

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B

By
What is truly valuable?  As a species humanity seems constantly preoccupied with this question, starting from our individual perspective and building up to our families, our parish, our community, all the way up to the entire world view.  Whole industries have grown around this idea of value, from the advertising industry that tries to convince you of the value of what they’re selling, to insurance companies that can set a monetary value on everything, including your own life.  Our faith tradition also has some thoughts on this question, as addressed by our readings this week: The Word for the 28tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Wisdom 7:7-11 Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Hebrews 4:12-13 Mark 10:17-30 Our first reading is from the Book of Wisdom.  You may recall that we had a passage from this book three weeks ago, but by way of reminder, the Book of Wisdom comes to us from the Jewish community in Alexandria some 50 years before Christ.  Typical of wisdom literature in...
Post a Comment
Read more