The most important reader response I received for my last post was from my girlfriend.
We share similar views on many issues both religious and political, and on this she really challenged me: “how does the fact that you’re Catholic influence how you vote?” This is a question I grapple with every time I consider an election, but it is exceedingly difficult to write about because it’s so very personal and complicated.
I am in support of the right to choose, gay marriage, and stem cell research, and I tend to vote for those issues when they crop up in the political arena. Some may say, “If you are Catholic, how can you support those issues which are presumably antithetical to Catholic doctrine?” To which I tell them a little about my upbringing:
I was raised Catholic and have had the distinction (limitation?) of spending every year of my education in a Catholic School. The last nine of those years have been in Jesuit institutions. This is not to say that those schools promoted a liberal agenda. Far from it. What they did do was create a student that is open to other experiences and viewpoints, and who thinks critically and challenges the thinking of the established authority.
As a Catholic voter, I know that I don’t agree with the hard line that some Catholic organizations draw between political candidates and issues. Catholic Answer’s “Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics” (not endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by the way) states that there are five “non-negotiable issues” for the Catholic voter. Those are: 1. Abortion; 2. Euthanasia; 3. Fetal Stem Cell Research; 4. Human Cloning; 5. Homosexual “Marriage” (quotes are theirs).
The upshot is that if a candidate or initiative promotes any of these five issues, they should be eliminated from your consideration. Thankfully, there is no mention here of withholding communion to those who would vote against the five “non-negotiables,” a practice with which I have serious disagreement.
The official USCCB “statement” , on the other hand, has no mention of “non-negotiables,” and instead asks questions of the Catholic Voter intended to place political issues into the framework of Catholic social teaching. I would also recommend looking at the Washington State Catholic Conference’s “Legislative Priorities”, if this is an issue of interest to you.
The bottom line for me, and many other Catholics, is that I don’t always conform to the social teachings of the Catholic Church. The experiences and people that I have encountered in my life have lead me to see the world very differently from Church leaders. Fundamentally, I think that it is people with differing perspectives on how religion plays out in their lives (both personally and politically) that move our society forward.
Respond
Back to top