Next Tuesday Americans will once again have the opportunity to elect a new president and the stakes could not be higher.
Rhode Islanders are trying to cope with a severe economic crisis that has resulted in the highest unemployment in the nation as well as the ongoing military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is important to remember that the Church teaches that all Catholics should participate as “faithful citizens,” not only during the campaign but most especially during the election itself. Catholics must exercise the right and duty of voting with a properly formed and informed conscience in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church. The time has come to put aside hackneyed political sloganeering and stale stump speeches so that each individual may clearly examine our conscience and seriously and prayerfully begin our reflection as faithful citizens and conscientious Catholics.
As Catholics we are faced with myriad issues that are of concern: the protection of human life, the sanctity of marriage, immigration reform, healthcare, the economy, the war on terror, and concern for the poor. We are called to be concerned about these issues and must continue to hold our elected leaders accountable that just solutions are realized. However, as the U.S. Bishops statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, clearly teaches, not all the issues have the same moral equivalence. The Bishops state: “Some are called ‘intrinsically evil’ actions. They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned. A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion and euthanasia.”
While the overriding issue of abortion is not the only issue, it continues to be the defining moral issue of the last 35 years. Each year more than one million lives are lost through legalized abortion. This must always be a cause of deep concern for all Catholics. This election affords us the opportunity to promote not only the common good but also to promote the culture of life in the United States. For as Pope John Paul the Great stated in his encyclical The Gospel of Life: “It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop."
It has become fashionable in some Catholic academic, intellectual and political circles to suggest that in this current election there exist “grave moral reasons” to vote for candidates who actively and publicly support abortion. In fact, some Catholic candidates hoping to gain the much-sought and needed “Catholic vote” have tried to muddy the waters in a shameful attempt to cast doubt on the Church’s long held teaching on the sanctity of human life. The Bishops have stated clearly and unequivocally: “The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.”
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship indicates that not only does our decision on political and moral issues affect the common good of our society but also may very well affect each individual’s salvation. As faithful citizens we must always be “guided more by our moral convictions than by our attachment to a political party or interest group” or likeability of a certain candidate. As both Catholics and conscientious voters, we must always treat our political choices with the proper moral seriousness and appropriate reflection they deserve and not callously cast votes without conscientious reflection. We recommend that any serious reflection begin with the words of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who proposed that our vote for any particular candidate would need “a reason you could confidently explain to Jesus and the victims of abortion when you meet them at the Judgment.” On November 4 we call upon Rhode Island Catholics to vote but to remember they are called to vote as conscientious and faithful Catholic citizens.
