Are Catholics required to vote a certain way?
Yes and No. The Catholic Church does not endorse any candidate or party. Period. No matter what you have read or heard, there is NO mandate on which candidate(s) Catholics must vote for from Rome. However, we ARE asked to bring our values and commitment to the common good with us to the voting booth. What that actually looks like on our individual ballots depends….
Matt Malone, SJ wrote this great little opinion piece for America magazine recently, in which he said “I can virtually guarantee that if you attend Mass on Sunday morning in any parish in the United States, you will find yourself sitting in a pew near someone who disagrees with you about what the public policy should be on abortion, or same-sex marriage, or the death penalty. While the teaching of the church on the moral dimensions of these issues is consistent, there is today, as there has always been, a spirited debate about HOW to APPLY those moral principles in the public realm, one that is democratic, diverse and nonsectarian. Catholics are free to disagree with one another in good conscience, if not about the moral principles at stake, then certainly about the prudential application of those principles in the public square.
Our fundamental identity and unity as Catholic Christians does not reside in our allegiance to a set of ideas, much less to some political manifesto. Our unity resides in the person of Jesus Christ. For us, truth is ultimately a person – a “someone” we encounter rather than a “something” with which we beat each other over the head.”
In another piece in the NCR by Michael Sean Winters: "conservative Catholics have every right to be Republicans, to try and play their faith in ways that correspond to their conscience, to reach conclusions that might differ from that of more liberal Catholics. They sometimes leave aside certain concerns that I think are central to the relevance of our faith at this time in history, but there are those on the left who do the same. The bastardization came when conservative Catholics claimed theirs was the only acceptable application of faith. By aiding the reduction of faith to morals, these conservative Catholics have unwittingly been agents of the very same secularization they claim to oppose. What makes Catholic social teaching so powerful is that it doesn’t fit squarely within in any one party or ideological movement.”
St. Paul says “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Never be lacking in zeal, but be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in affliction, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of all God’s people. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another…Do what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
This is our Catholic “practice.” These sacred hopes are what we take with us to the polls as believers on Nov. 8th.
All our CTR families are invited to set aside the hour of 7-8PM on Mon. Nov. 7th for a “Community Prayer Hour at Home” on the eve of this important election. A brochure is available in the vestibule or at our website at ctredeemer.org that will help us to “unplug,” gather those we love, and be united in prayer as a parish family.
Great reflection, friend!
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