August 7th, 2016: Faithful Citizen

The Stephen Colbert Report recently had a parody of both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention in relation to the Hunger Games.  The political bantering I have seen from both of these parties feels like a reality tv show, with no obvious choice of who is the best or most qualified candidate to trust.  Perhaps the lense in which we are looking at these presidential elections needs to shift from the candidates to the principles they embody.  Let me be clear, no political party embodies Christ and His teachings.  We must remember that we need to be Catholic first and should vote as Catholics, not by our political leanings.  What does this mean?  Faith and intellect are important components to this question.  Faith and intellect help to form our Christian conscience (Gaudium et Spes, 16).  We must pray to God for clarity and we must engross ourselves in the knowledge of what the Church teaches.  Catholic Social Teaching and the document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are two ways we can begin to form our conscience.

Besides the presidential elections we must also read and pray about the ballot measures.  These ballot measures will have immediate effects on the way we live.  

Some might wonder why the Church is entering into the political sphere.  Our faith cannot be limited by what happens inside of the Church walls.  If we only focus on what happens in the Church and do not integrate Christ’s message in the world, this creates a Church that is both irrelevant and ineffective.  Our faith must be integrated into all that we do, and this includes politics.  The Catholic voice is a strong one.  Every election is an important election.  We must vote.  Don’t sit this one out.  We must be faithful citizens.