At a recent parish gathering, a man approached me to voice a very strong opinion. “Bishop,” he said, “we are hearing too much about politics from the parish pulpit.”

The gentleman did not appear to appreciate my response.

I told him that indeed partisan politics and individual endorsements have no place in the parish pulpit. But Church leaders have not only the right but the duty to help individual Catholics form their conscience and become educated about the principles of Catholic social teaching.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in the document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship state, “In the Catholic tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation. This obligation is rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus Christ and to bear Christian witness in all we do.”

Pope Benedict writes, “The direct duty to work for the just ordering of society is proper to the lay faithful.” The role of Church leaders is to help shape the conscience of the laity and educate them in the vision, values and principles of Catholic social thought. Far too often, the political process is characterized by bravado (or bravada) saber rattling, distorted facts, personal attacks, cynical sound bites, and talk show hype.

The Catholic Church calls for a different kind of political participation. It calls for informed involvement that is shaped by the deep moral conviction, a well formed conscience, concern for the common good and an abiding belief that all persons are made in the image of God.

The Church readily recognizes that political decisions are complex and multi-faceted. The average voter is faced with imperfect choices, competing values and platform planks that sometimes conflict with Catholic moral and social teaching.

What is a voter to do?

The Church offers keys to help unlock the doors to good decision making by providing a moral framework for principled engagement in political life.

“Human dignity,” writes Father Kenneth Himes, “is the point of departure for Catholic social teaching.” The foundation of Catholic social teaching begins with the belief that “humans are made in the image of God.” Himes continues, “Human beings are creatures of dignity and worth not because of any achievement on our part. Nor is our dignity traced to society’s conferral of it. Our dignity is founded upon a faith conviction, the doctrine of the Imago Dei. We are creatures made in the image of the Creator.”

This framework, rightly understood, neither treats all issues as moral equivalents nor reduces Catholic teaching to one or two issues. Rather, the Church challenges the individual Catholic to think critically and evaluate politicians, proposals, planks and platforms through the lens of Catholic social teaching.

Catholic social teaching challenges us to defend human life from conception until natural death, and to uphold the fundamental moral obligation to respect the dignity of every person as a child of God, especially the weak and vulnerable.

This vision of the human person compels the Catholic voter to examine deeply a candidate’s vision of the human person and his or her position on issues affecting human life and dignity. This vision helps voters to weigh carefully and prayerfully all policies and platforms that affect justice and peace.

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship cautions that Catholics are not single-issue voters. “A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support. (42)

The informed voter must pay close attention to a candidate’s political endorsements, moral character, lived experience and voting record. The principles of Catholic social teaching prompt the individual voter to avoid uncritical attachment to a particular party. Nor should we “let the party transform us in such a way that we neglect or deny fundamental moral truths.”(14)

The consistent ethic of life is expansive and inclusive, looking beyond the issue of abortion to include a number of critical issues affecting society. These include euthanasia, human cloning and the destruction of human embryos for scientific research. The continuum also includes opposition to torture, unjust war, the use of the death penalty, genocide, attacks against noncombatants and racism.

The consistent ethic of life helps us to address underlying causes of human poverty, suffering and misery. It also prompts us to seek effective ways to combat evil and terrorism without resorting to armed conflict, except as a last resort, and always to seek first to resolve national and international disputes by peaceable means.

In the final analysis, Catholic social teaching focuses on what the rights and responsibilities of individuals and communities are, especially as these relate to the poorest, the weakest and the most vulnerable members of society.

In fulfilling these rights and responsibilities, American Catholics would do well to take a close look at Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, which is a helpful resource that helps enlighten a sometimes dreary and difficult path. May God guide us throughout these challenging and important days.

Ed.: Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship is available on the Faithful Citizenship website at www.faithfulcitizenship.org and may be ordered through USCCB Publishing at www.usccbpublishing.org/ or by phone 1-800-235-8722.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 24, No. 9, September 19, 2008.