Bishop offers five principles to review before we vote

By Bishop Robert J. McManus
Bishop of Worcester

From City Hall to the White House, we are in campaign season. Public service is an honorable calling requiring selfless sacrifice, wisdom, courage and virtue if government is to function well and the common good of society is to be advanced.
Public service in a pluralistic society is both an honor and a challenge, especially when polarization characterizes much of our politics. For that reason, I hope that amidst the slogans and sound bites, debates and white papers, there will be prayers for public office holders and candidates in this year’s local races and next year’s state and federal elections. Well, before we cast our ballots, this might be a good time to review a few Catholic principles regarding government and public service, especially in regard to candidates and public servants who are Catholic.

Separation of Church and State

“The political community and the Church are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields” (“Gaudium et Spes,” 76).  The Church does not propose, endorse or oppose particular candidates. The Church does not identify with any political party or political system.

 Government, Politics, Morality
and the Common Good

The rightful autonomy of the political community from religion and the Church is not, however, an autonomy from morality. Government and politics must serve the common good and must be based upon a proper understanding of the human person. It was to the Laws of Nature that our Founding Fathers appealed for the right to declare independence and institute a new government for the safety and happiness of the people. It is appealing to the same natural moral law, to reason as well as faith, that the Church teaches and proposes to the political community and society moral issues such as “human life and dignity, marriage and family, war and peace, the needs of the poor and the demands of justice” (“Catholics in Political Life,” United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004).

Secular Charism of the Lay Faithful

Within the Church, it is the charism and calling of the laity, enlightened by a properly formed Catholic conscience, to renew and perfect the temporal order through direct participation in society, including the political system (“Apostolicam Actuositatem,” 7).

Prudential Judgements

While addressing issues of critical importance to society and teaching general principles, the Church does not propose specific political solutions. Because of the many contingent and changing technical factors to devising specific proposals and public policies to address the common good, Catholic voters and politicians have a legitimate freedom to choose among different political proposals to address those issues provided their choice is consistent with faith and the natural moral law and the authentic moral and social teaching of the Church (“Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life,” Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 3, 2002).

Necessity to Oppose Inherently Immoral Policies

While Catholic politicians generally have such latitude in devising, proposing and supporting public policies to address such issues through prudential judgments which are in accord with the natural moral law, it is absolutely prohibited for one to promote or vote for intrinsically immoral laws such as those permitting abortion or euthanasia (“Evangelium Vitae,” 73).  A Catholic politician cannot take the morally incoherent position of being “personally opposed” to such a moral evil while still voting to enact it. To do so is to jeopardize that Catholic politician’s relationship to the Church. In cases where it is presently impossible to overturn completely such an existing law but where its evil impacts might be limited by the passage of a narrower law, a Catholic politician could vote for the more restrictive law but only after making clear his absolute personal opposition to the underlying evil (Ibid.).

These are times when the faith makes heavy demands upon us. In these times the demands upon Catholic politicians are particularly great. However, it is also a time when Catholic politicians can be a light in the darkness and a witness to moral coherency in a culture confused by an artificial separation between freedom and moral truth. That is why St. John Paul proclaimed St. Thomas More the patron of statesmen and politicians. Let us pray for our public servants and candidates. Let us pray that St. Thomas More and St. John Paul will intercede for them, giving them the grace, courage, and wisdom to acknowledge the dignity of every human person and to truly promote the common good.

– Bishop McManus is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty.