My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

In ten days we as a nation will be asked to exercise a civic responsibility and vote in midterm elections to elect governors, members of Congress and state legislators.  Casting a vote, in accordance with a well-formed conscience, is incumbent upon all Catholics.  Conscience is that right reason which guides our moral and ethical activity. 

How do we form a conscience ready to make important choices about the selection of legislators? A conscience to be well formed must take into account the teachings of the Church and act in conformity with the virtue of prudence.  Prudence allows us to make judgments in often complex and difficult situations, such as the election of public officials, so that we can act justly and in charity.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his first encyclical, “God Is Love,” treated the relationship between justice and charity and gave us important insights into the position of the Church in society and its influence over the affairs of state. It also provided practical guidance to individual Catholics.  He wrote: 

“The Church’s social teaching argues on the basis of reason and natural law, namely, on the basis of what is in accord with the nature of every human being.  It recognizes that it is not the Church’s responsibility to make this teaching prevail in political life.  Rather, the Church wishes to help form consciences in political life and to stimulate greater insight into the authentic requirements of justice as well as greater readiness to act accordingly, even when this might involve conflict with situations of personal interest.”

Oftentimes, our voting habits do follow personal interest, party loyalty and sometimes even ethnic affiliations.  The well-formed conscience for a Catholic permits us to use our reason to understand the conflicts and realities before us and choose representatives that can reflect our understanding of our political responsibility.  The Holy Father went on to say:

 “The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. . . .she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines … A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church.  Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply.”

The Church must never involve itself in politics, to the point that it becomes an actor in the arena or simply another interest group.  The Church acts in concert with what justice and charity demand and, it is hoped, does so with one mind in regard to enunciating the truth in a world that has long lost the understanding that truth is absolute and is not just what any one person demands.

Many issues face us in the upcoming elections, among them, partial-birth abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and same-sex marriages, which are non-negotiable.  Support for these violate the foundation of Catholic social teaching in a just society governed by the law of charity.   We are called upon to make prudential judgments concerning other issues, using our well-formed consciences to guide us in our decision-making, especially in selecting elected officials. 

Our prudential judgments, however, can never go against the dignity of every human person from the moment of conception to natural death.  Respect for human life is the basis for those things needed to live with dignity: productive work, fair wages, food and shelter, education, health care, protection from harm, the right to move from one country to another when conditions at home require it.  As Catholics these principles should guide our decision-making and afford us a clear and balanced path for making our electoral decisions.

Every political election can be compared to putting out into the deep. Although we vote for a candidate who we think reflects our point of view, we are never sure where our vote or the candidate will eventually take us.  Perhaps, in exercising the virtue of prudence, we might take care to recognize the true direction in which the ship of state is headed and take precautions to assure that it goes in the direction of right reason in accord with the natural law and the common good. 

Join me in praying for an election season where those who uphold the basic dignity of human life are successful.  Join me in praying that the law of love be written on the hearts of each of our elected officials.

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