Voting Catholic

One of the most consistent frustrations for a politically and religiously aware Catholic preparing to vote comes from her fellow-Catholics: the tendency to collapse all differences between candidates to this issue of "pro-life."  Don't get me wrong -- abortion and other policies about human life are huge.  I have an "I vote pro-life first" sign in my window.  (The other side, the one I really like, says, "I AM the pro-life generation!")

Our obligation to protect the life of pre-born children, however, does not overturn or cancel out our obligation to care about other issues or to be guided by moral standards to create just policies in other areas.   (Really, it just shows the tragedy of our modern political divide.  Could you imagine not having to vote pro-life, because both candidates were?)  So even if we vote pro-life first, we need to know there are other important questions in politics.  Even if they do not change our vote, they exist, and we as Catholics need to care about how our government addresses other issues of justice.  We also need to know what our Church teaches about them.

The Virginia Catholic Conference puts together voter education literature every election.  They publish candidate's approaches to issues that are of interest to a Catholic understanding of justice.  It's not the most comprehensive resource, but it at least puts questions other than abortion on the table.  Take a look-see here (for the presidential race) and here (for the VA senatorial race).

If you aren't sure on Catholic approaches to the issues, read the senatorial one first, because it contains more information about the bishops' position.  There is, of course, no official Church teaching on policy matter.  The bishops offer guidance based on the Church's teaching and their understanding of the current national situation.  It's called prudential judgement.  The first criterion will not change; the second can and does; and opinions of how the two fit together can legitimately vary.

That doesn't get anyone off the hook about caring about these issues.  It just raises our obligation to become informed so we know how to become involved in the political process.  Even if we vote pro-life first, 364 days of the year (or 365 in the case of presidential election years) are not election day.  Those days require our involvement as well.