Part
I
U.S.
Bishops call for...
A different kind of politics
Editor’s note: The following begins a four-part series
exploring how the Church helps Catholics to live out their responsibility
to be faithful citizens. Part one examines the necessity of a person’s
well-formed conscience when considering moral issues. Succeeding parts
of the series will explore key moral issues in depth.
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
Thousands of Philadelphia Catholics joined other like-minded citizens
in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22, as they have done annually for more than
three decades, peacefully protesting the continued enforcement of what
they believe was a deeply flawed and immoral U.S. Supreme Court decision
— Roe v. Wade. In doing so, they were demonstrating faithful citizenship
in the best American tradition.
Faithful citizenship can, and should, also be practiced before the fact;
that is, before the election of lawmakers, executives or judges.
To that end, every four years the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops issues a document designed to assist Catholics as they form their
own consciences before entering the voting booth. This year’s document,
issued Nov. 14, 2007, is titled, “The Challenge of Forming Consciences
for Faithful Citizenship.”
Conscience, the bishops state, “is the voice of God resounding in
the human heart revealing the truth to us and calling us to do good while
shunning evil.”
Seven key themes
The document stresses moral issues, not political parties or candidates.
“Faithful Citizenship” addresses seven key themes:
1. The right to life and the dignity of the human person;
2. Call to family, community and participation;
3. Rights and responsibilities;
4. Options for the poor and vulnerable;
5. Dignity of work and the rights of workers;
6. Solidarity as one human family;
7. Caring for God’s creation.
Americans are proud of the nation’s tradition of separation of church
and state, and that is recognized in the document, which states: “We
bishops do not intend to tell Catholics for whom or against whom they
should vote. Our purpose is to help Catholics form their conscience in
accordance with God’s truth. We recognize that the responsibility
to make choices in political life rests with each individual in light
of a properly formed conscience, and that participation goes well beyond
casting a vote in a particular election.”
Teaching morals, forming consciences
“Clergy and lay people have complementary roles in public life,”
the document further states. “We bishops have the primary responsibility
to hand on the Church’s moral and social teaching. Together with
priests and deacons, assisted by religious and lay leaders of the Church,
we are to teach fundamental moral principles that help Catholics form
their consciences correctly, to provide guidance on the moral dimensions
of public decisions, and to encourage the faithful to carry out their
responsibilities in political life.”
In the bishops’ view, responsible citizenship is not an option,
it is a responsibility: “Participation in political life is a moral
obligation. This obligation is rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow
Jesus Christ and to bear Christian witness in all that we do.”
Human dignity as the focus of politics
Politics, the bishops say, “can be a contest of powerful interests,
partisan attacks, sound bites and media hype. The Church calls for a different
kind of political engagement, one shaped by moral convictions of well-formed
consciences and focused on the dignity of every human being.”
The bishop’s document speaks directly to the lay electorate and
not to political candidates.
Speaking from a lay perspective, Fred Cabell brings expertise in church-state
matters.
A former director of education for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference,
he suggests the bishops want to make clear that there are first principles
that override all other considerations and should be kept in mind. For
example, it is never morally permissible to take innocent human life.
Therefore abortion is always wrong and can never be supported.
First principles, prudent judgments
Sometimes the application of just such a first principle is clear-cut.
In other cases, one must make prudent judgments based on a well-formed
conscience. Cabell, who has taught a church-state course for the Harrisburg
Diocese, points to another obvious first principle — our duty to
care for the less fortunate.
In the area of underemployment, one Catholic might interpret this to mean
the government should create jobs, while another Catholic might see elimination
of the capital gains tax as a means of stimulating job growth. Others
might espouse a combination of both. That’s where conscience comes
into play.
“As Catholics we should never be strictly beholden to one party
or one particular program,” Cabell said. “Our ultimate allegiance
is to God and the Church. Conforming yourself to the will of God is sometimes
painful and difficult.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo parish and a freelance writer.
Pope
Benedict XVI explains lay role in faithful citizenship
We can now determine more precisely, in the life of the Church, the relationship
between commitment to the just ordering of the State and society on the
one hand, and organized charitable activity on the other. We have seen
that the formation of just structures is not directly the duty of the
Church, but belongs to the world of politics, the sphere of the autonomous
use of reason. The Church has an indirect duty here, in that she is called
to contribute to the purification of reason and to the reawakening of
those moral forces without which just structures are neither established
nor prove effective in the long run.
The direct duty to work for a just ordering of society, on the other hand,
is proper to the lay faithful. As citizens of the State, they are called
to take part in public life in a personal capacity. So they cannot relinquish
their participation in the many different economic, social, legislative,
administrative and cultural areas, which are intended to promote organically
and institutionally the common good. The mission of the lay faithful is
therefore to configure social life correctly, respecting its legitimate
autonomy and cooperating with other citizens according to their respective
competencies and fulfilling their own responsibility. Even if the specific
expressions of ecclesial charity can never be confused with the activity
of the State, it still remains true that charity must animate the entire
lives of the lay faithful and therefore also their political activity,
lived as “social charity.”
— Deus Caritas Est (no. 29)
Bishops'
Document:
Forming
Consciences for Faithful Citizenship:
A Call to Political Responsibility
from theBishops of the United States