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Catholics Free to Vote by Conscience
Some religious leaders, including a number of Catholic bishops, are telling people, at least implicitly, how to vote in the presidential election. Yet Catholics should feel free to vote as they deem in the best interest of the nation and world. Any Catholic -- bishop, priest or lay -- who questions the freedom to vote as conscience dictates should first read the statement by U.S. bishops entitled "The Challenge of Faithful Citizenship.'' It provides a rich range of ethical issues to consider and debate in the public square and urges all citizens to "register, vote and stay involved in public life, seeking the common good and renewing our democracy." The bishops as a whole do not reduce voting to a single issue, but rightly remain focused on the candidates who will best promote human dignity and the common good for all. I suggest voters of any religious affiliation should be concerned about ethical issues and take the "consistent ethic of life'' approach, articulated so well by the late Cardinal Bernardin. Then serious dialogue, even debate, would include the protection of all children -- from the unborn to those living in poverty, from children of the rich to those dying of hunger and diseases. The debate would include the mortgaging of our children's future by the astronomical increase in the federal debt and not providing health care to all families. The debate would include the meaning of war and peace, and our role in global warming and international diplomacy. The debate would include the scandal of capital punishment, euthanasia, racism, families living in poverty, inaction in Sudan, and the list could go on. Both Republicans and Democrats need to hear our leaders endorse a consistent ethic of life and imagine a world of hope, not fear. Today, they speak only in fragments about ethics or create a sense of fear that is politically expedient. At a liturgy Sunday, I said to the congregation: We have seen all of the bishops rightly speak for the unborn, yet they undermine their position when they turn Catholicism and morality into a single political or moral issue, and when a dozen or so bishops (thankfully, Bishop Patrick McGrath of San Jose is not among them) of the more than 300 threaten to withhold communion from politicians or tell people how to vote -- even after the Vatican has told them not to. People are free to vote their conscience; the church has a tradition of respecting individual conscience, from St. Thomas Aquinas to its reinforcement again by the Second Vatican Council. What is relevant and important is that all citizens, including all Catholics, must be free to vote their conscience and vote for their preferred candidate, not because of one issue but weighing the full range of moral and ethical and public-policy questions. As one cardinal in the Vatican wrote about the U.S. election: It would be "inappropriate for me . . . or any other official of the Curia to make statements in favor or against any particular political candidate.'' If that is true for religious leaders in the Vatican, it is more true for religious leaders of all faiths in the United States with our free democracy. I hope that the people of God, regardless of their religious affiliation, will vote for the candidate who will cherish human life of all ages and places and the common good of society. I hope they will speak for a consistent ethic of life in politics, the church, society, and our ever more globalizing world.
PAUL LOCATELLI is president of Santa Clara University. He wrote this article for the Mercury News. 2004 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. |
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