Monday, March 3, 2008

SO WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU SAYING?

You do not join the Catholic Church. People who do so do not know what they are doing. You do not join. Joining is for health clubs. You become part of the Catholic Church. It is part of who you are. It is a lens from which we view the world like being male or female. Being Catholic cannot help but inform what you do because it is part of who you are.

Tomorrow is voting day here in the great state of Ohio and some people have mentioned being part of conversations in which someone says, “The Catholic Church is not going to tell me how to vote.” This is an utterly ridiculous statement for someone who wants to be called Catholic. We cannot put ourselves outside of the Church because we are the Church. We might as well say, “My body is not going to inform me how to live in this world!”

Being Catholic brings with it certain standards in morals. It is a high bar and even if we do not always measure up to it, it is there for us to aspire to. There is not office or group of “Church officials” that are sitting around trying to decide how they want to make you vote. However we all are to remind each other (and it is the duty of those charged with the care of souls to do so in a special way) that we have these standards: that there are good ways of living and there are evil ways of living. There are things that will bring life and dignity and worth to the human cause and that which will degrade and harm us. It is an act of forming a conscience in the fashion that Jesus Christ taught us which we do in the community of the Church that He established.

Once again, to say that the “Church is not going to tell me how to vote,” is not saying that I am not aligning my vote with something some ecclesial overlord is telling me I must do, it is saying that I am making a firm break with the faith and morals with which I have been entrusted.

True, on issues from time to time we may vote differently than a recommendation from, say, a council of bishops. But for a Catholic it is not because we are making a break with Church (The Church won’t tell ME how to vote) but rather it is (or should be) that we are using the same information concerning faith and morals as someone who makes a recommendation and have made an educated, informed, and well thought out decision that is at odds with said recommendation. But one only acts on it because of the belief that it is closer in keeping with the will of Christ and what He wants of us as Church.

Obviously then this person is not putting himself outside of the “power” of the Church but acting fully as a member therein. To simply say, “The Church is not going to tell me how to vote” then is either pure laziness, ignroance, or an indirect denial of the faith the way we believe Christ established it and this should leave others scratching their heads as to why such a person would even bother calling themselves Catholic.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen. As the Carpenter Himself always did, you've hit the nail right on the head.

Soutenus said...

Great post! I am going to share it with my students (via my blog). They are not allowed to roam on the net but they have been given permission to go to my site. I will definitely tell them it is your post and link back to you. We talk a lot in class about quoting and footnoting!
I hope that is ok with you. If not, please let me know and I will delete it.
In any case, excellent post! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

This is the post I was meaning to write... but you did it first, and you did it far better!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your words, Father. It helps when confronted with this line of thinking. I do have a question along these lines. Have you seen the "Pledge for a Civil Dialogue on Faithful Citizenship" listed in our Universe Bulletin this week? I find it "acceptable" up to their their last numbered point. I don't have a link for others...sorry. #5 reads: "To agree that none of us holds the complete truth regarding matters of faith and politics." It continues: "A little humility goes a long way in parish discussions of Faithful Citizenship. Try not to monopolize the conversation. Try to be open to the possibility that your mind could be changed by the opinions of others who offer informed perspectives based upon Church teaching." For me, the hair on the back of my neck stood up when I read "none of us holds the complete truth regarding matters of faith and politics"...(the politics part I can agree with) but *faith* , doesn't the Magisterium hold the complete truth? Also found the pledge a bit condescending to most Catholics.

Anonymous said...

Even to have read "faith and politics" in the same sentence is to hear a nuclear power plant-like siren; perhaps it was worded by a P.A. (pastoral associate), but I do think it was just badly worded. Yes, pledges not given us by God are always a bit condescending. Jesus told us not to swear by anything, since we none of us made it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your reply, justme...glad I wasn't totally off base in asking, or seem overly sensitive...good guess on it being the work of possibly a pastoral minister, however, the bishop must have his stamp of "approval" on the pledge as it is in our diocesan paper...oh, well...