| Statement from the Peace and Social Justice Ministry
on Voter’s Guides
and Single Issue Politics
During this election year,
it can be anticipated that various organizations will
produce voter’s guides and literature in an effort
to promote a particular value, agenda, candidate or
political party and that attempts will be made to
distribute these guides through the local parish.
Parishes wishing to distribute literature should only use Faithful Citizenship, or other materials
from the USCCB, Catholic Conference of Illinois, and
this office. Parish leaders are not to distribute voter’s guides or
political literature from other organizations. The
USCCB Office of the General Counsel offers comprehensive
guidelines on political activity by parishes. These
can be viewed on-line at http://www.usccb.org/ogc.
The position of the U.S.
Catholic Conference of Bishops is that the Church
does not have a litmus test or non-negotiable issues
when it comes to voting for political candidates.
In fact, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith writes in Doctrinal Note on Some Questions
Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political
Life:
-
“It must be noted also that a
well-formed Christian conscience does not permit
one to vote for a political program or an individual
law which contradicts the fundamental contents
of faith and morals. The Christian faith is an
integral unity, and thus it is incoherent to isolate
some particular element to the detriment of the
whole of Catholic doctrine. A political commitment
to a single isolated aspect of the Church’s social
doctrine does not exhaust one’s responsibility
towards the common good.”
Parish leaders should be
aware that even though a publication comes from an
organization claiming to provide the Catholic answer
to voter’s questions does not mean that it has approval
of the U.S. Bishops or that it is doctrinally correct
or legal. Parishes distributing materials that promote
a candidate or political party risk violation of I.R.S.
tax codes. Some voter’s guides and other similar literature
amount to promotion of single issue voting, and, by
design or default, endorsement of a particular party.
Catholics represent a prize block of voters and there
may be groups who would seek to manipulate the good
intentions of Catholic voters to their own political
ends. In the cautious wording of Faithful Citizenship”:
A Catholic moral framework does not easily fit the
ideologies of "right" or "left," nor the platforms
of any party...Our responsibility is to measure all
candidates, policies, parties, and platforms by how
they protect or undermine the life, dignity, and rights
of the human person -- whether they protect the poor
and vulnerable and advance the common good."
The Faithful Citizenship
document also reminds us that people will and should
make prudential judgments, based on their informed
conscience and embrace of Gospel values, especially
as they have been articulated in Catholic social teaching.
Such prudential judgments include weighing the possibility
that a particular candidate who holds a particular
position on a particular issue "at this time"
could very possibly be persuaded to change her/his
position after dialogue and persuasive efforts. (Is
there a politician anywhere who has never changed
her/his mind on issues?) The democratic process in
America is at the same time idealist and value driven
as well as pragmatic and strategic. Each individual
must decide for himself or herself, from a well-formed
conscience, how best to engage the political process
to promote and achieve the full range of Catholic
values for the common good.
Parish leaders are encouraged to educate their parishioners in the teaching of the Church on values for the common good and of the importance of participation in the political process, of their need to be “faithful citizens.”
|
