Bishops On Politics

 For WNY Catholic: 9/13/2016

Bishops on Politics: One concern: Justice; But, Many Issues

“As Catholics...Not Single Issue Voters”

Pope Francis: We have “...a fundamental response: to desire, seek and protect the good of others” “...the Church(us) ...must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.” The US Conference of Bishops(USCCB) in their recently published Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, lead off with these exhortations from our current Pope's Evangelii Gaudium. (Go to USCCB Forming Consciences for the full text--39 pages.)

They caution “...Catholic moral teaching provide(s) a moral framework that does not easily fit ideologies of 'right' or 'left,' 'liberal' or 'conservative,' or the platform of any political party.”

They cite “four basic principles of Catholic social doctrine: the dignity of the human person (and right to life), the common good(as opposed to benefits and justice for only select people) subsidiarity (giving people the rights and means to care for themselves, that is seeking to provide justice, first, then charity. Pope Paul VI in his encyclical on “Just Wage” stated that charity is necessary only to correct injustice) and solidarity (concern for all fellow humans, including and especially 'the least of these.' In famous other words, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”)

Forming Consciences continues: “The right to life implies and is linked to other human rights—to the basic goods that every human person needs to live and thrive. All the life issues are connected, for erosion of respect for the life of any individual or group in society necessarily diminishes respect for all life.”

Here's a laundry list of “right to life” items, most culled directly from the Bishops' document and some from the author's experience:

1. No abortion – in addition to legal remedies, which have limited success.*

a. Seek to eliminate the sexual abuse and exploitation of women and, therefore, “unsought” pregnancies.

b. Support women who choose to have the child. The Buffalo Diocese provides great examples of doing just that.**

c. Make adoption easier and more affordable.**

d. Support adoptive parents and the adopting-out mother.**

*Note the number of other crimes that are committed: homicides, thefts, fraud, and hiring of “undocumented” immigrants, all of which are against the law).

**Information on these activities and how you might support them are available through Buffalo Right to Life Unit and suggestions from this writer: goldenjazz59@gmail.com.

2. Care for born children & all persons; with “preferential treatment of the poor:”

a. Parents/families and foster parents

b. “Just wage” or living wage, as described in six Popes' encyclicals, starting with Leo XIII(1891) thru Benedict XVI, and including two very recent saints, St. John XXIII & St. John Paul II

c. Healthy food

d. No physical or sexual abuse or exploitation

e. No violence in home

f. Clean water

g. Medical care, incl. especially, pre-natal and early childhood

h. Mental health treatment for parents, children & all in need, especially Veterans

i. Education, equal education, affordable college

j. No acts against family, including less than “just wage,” excessive employer demands, denying pay, refusing to pay agreed-to-amount, anti-family immigration enforcement, illegal (or unethical) foreclosures, etc.

k. Infectious disease control

l. Shelter

m. Police protection in poor areas.

n. Pollution protection, especially in poor areas, e.g. Flint MI

3. No mercy killing

4. Care of elderly, including reasonably priced health care

a. fair costs for drugs, implements and insurance

5. Care of veterans: esp. no political bargaining with life issues, by requiring unrelated items to be attached.

6. “Just Wage” and need of workers to be able to organize. Cited in 2b. Above.

7. Care of women, similar to #2. above

8. “Justice” (as above)

9. “Common Good”--“The common good indicates 'the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily' (Gaudium et Spes). “...Every human being has a right to life, the fundamental right that makes all other rights possible and a right to access those things required for human decency—food and shelter, education and employment, health care and housing.” Furthermore, the six “Just Wage” encyclicals say that God's creation belongs to all of us and particularly water, land and air, let alone the fruits of our labor. Further, these should not be appropriated (or plundered) by a few powerful with the rest of us denied access and use.

10. Caring for the weak, poor and the excluded. (Buttressed by the six “Just Wage” encyclicals.)

11. Protecting the Environment: “Protecting the land, water, and air we share is a religious duty of stewardship and reflects our responsibility to born and unborn children, who are most vulnerable to environmental assault.” Further, we're obliged to preserve for future generations.

12. Just distribution of income

13. No economic oppression nor real and virtual enslavement: workers need bargaining rights (six “just wage” Encyclicals).

14. No usury(oppressive interest rates), “recourse to usury is to be morally condemned.” No unethical or predatory bank and business practices, taking unfair advantage of people's vulnerable positions.

15. Peace

16. No racism, or other unfair discrimination: “...society(we) has the obligation to...overcome the legacy of injustice, including vigorous action to remove barriers to education, protect voting rights, support good policing in our communities(including poor areas), and...equal employment for women and minorities.”

17. No death penalty

Author's note: Although, all children are covered in the document, born children are not named among those “most vulnerable.” Yet, a significant percentage are physically, sexually and emotionally abused, neglected, rejected, raised with violent and/or mentally ill parents, and even in this country illegally employed and exploited. We need to be concerned about children out of the womb as well as children in the womb. Further, if we're concerned about children in the womb, we must demand pre-natal care for pregnant women. It's critical to a child's future physical and mental health. “Children are to valued, protected and nurtured.”

More from Forming Consciences: “Catholics often face difficult choices as to how to vote. This is why it is so important to vote according to a well-informed conscience that perceives the proper relationship among moral goods. A Catholic shouldn't vote for a candidate who favors a policy promoting an intrinsically evil act, such as abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, deliberately subjecting workers or the poor to subhuman living conditions, redefining marriage in ways that violate it essential meaning, or racist behavior, if it's the voter's intention to support that position. In such cases a Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in grave evil. At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate's opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity.”

“...the fundamental principles that guide these teachings should not be ignored in any case nor used selectively in order to serve partisan interests.” “As Catholics we are not single-issue voters.”

The Bishops urge “a new kind of politics:

• “Focused more on moral principles than on the latest polls
• “Focused more on the needs of the weak than on benefits for the strong
• “Focused more on the pursuit of the common good than on the demands of narrow interests”
• The author would add: Base your decisions on what candidates and parties have done and how they've behaved, rather than what they promise

The author strongly recommends reading this document in its entirety(about 40 pages). It's an inspired piece of work that is a guide for not only preparing to vote, but for being active in the Catholic Church and the community.

We observed that in the several Catholic teachings listed, despite quoting of encyclicals in the text, no encyclicals are included. These are the most authoritative teachings of the Church, next to Ex Cathedra (infallible) pronouncements. Possibly it is because they are fairly long. However we find them to be inspiring. We particularly recommend the six “just wage” encyclicals, concluding with Benedict XVI's Charity in Truth, and, as well, Pope Francis' Evangelii Gaudium and Laudato Si. These can be accessed at the Vatican website.

The author notes that he writes from his own lens, which involves 16 years of Catholic education, with continued vigorous religious education and practice. He's been active at the parish, diocesan, community, state and national levels, which includes 43 years in criminal justice, 50 years of work and involvement with battered women and their batterers, and 52 years with migrant and immigrant farmworkers and farmers.

Note: quotes are from Forming Consciences, except where otherwise noted.

Bob Golden

Robert E. Golden additionally is a graduate of Holy Cross(Jesuit), has a Master's Degree in Counseling, was a chair of a Pres. Reagan advisory committee, a member of the Bishop Kmiec's Justice and Peace Commission, who has written several articles for WNY Catholic and Buffalo, Rochester and other newspapers, and journals, and reviewed over 50 books at local libraries.