With all due respect, I believe the bishops’ efforts to teach about voting as a faithful Catholic are largely incomprehensible for most members of the flock. So much time and effort are required to go through and interpret (or attempt to interpret) the “Faithful Citizenship” materials offered that the vast majority of people will not even try to review them.
Even worse, I believe these materials are easily used by those not friendly to core Church teachings to mislead voters into thinking that all issues are equal, and a faithful Catholic can always find that all parties and all candidates have some positions in accord with Church teaching (so a vote for any candidate is justifiable).
If one digs deeply enough, and is adequately equipped intellectually, one can perhaps find the core teaching that there is a hierarchy of issues, some of which are non-negotiable. One may be able to understand the difference between issues where a faithful Catholic must hold only one position and issues which are legitimately subject to a person’s prudential judgment. But I think few people are able or willing to discern this before casting a vote.
I understand our good bishops have a tough job in approaching this topic, and I sympathize with them. My suggestion is that they strive to focus on the core principle: Church teaching on issues such as abortion, the institution of marriage and religious liberty are non-negotiable, and no faithful Catholic may vote for a candidate who opposes Church teaching on these issues unless the other candidate is clearly more opposed to the teachings on these non-negotiable issues. It should also be noted up front that immigration reform measures, ways to provide environmental protection, gun control, ways of addressing poverty, etc., are all matters of prudential judgment about which faithful Catholics may legitimately disagree.
Without clear teaching and proper emphasis on the essential core of these citizenship lessons, the entire project is a waste of time and resources at best, and an aid to anti-Catholic politicians at worst.
Joe Burns is a member of St. Leo the Great Parish in Winston-Salem.
Some questions from a very upset Catholic: When will we hear something besides social justice sermons? When will we recognize that we are in the early stages of government-sponsored persecution? When will Catholics vote like Catholics? When will our bishops speak out?
Ed Sullivan lives in Charlotte.