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Catholics and Faithful Citizenship

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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?

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