By Jean Welch Hill–
As a 3rd Congressional District constituent, I am torn between the candidates. Watching the Utah Debate Commission debate on television and listening to the A Better Utah sponsored debate a week prior have left me even more confused.
Which is one reason vote by mail is perfect for me. The ballot holds a place of high visibility on my kitchen counter, so I can’t ignore my civic and moral duty. But it also reminds me daily that I need to make an informed decision based not only on policy choices, but my faith.
So I turn, once again, to my trusty, rusty Catholic voting guide, Forming Conscience for Faithful Citizenship from the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops (www.faithfulcitizenship.org). Unlike some Catholic guides, Faithful Citizenship, consistent with our faith, does not tell voters whom to vote for or how they must vote. As the title suggests, the point of Faithful Citizenship is to guide Catholics as they form their own opinions on the candidates and the issues based on Catholic teaching and values. As anyone who has voted knows far too well, “Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote. This is why it is so important to vote according to a well-formed conscience that perceives the proper relationship among moral goods.” Faithful Citizenship recognizes that a voter may need to choose between candidates who take morally flawed positions on one issue or another. The voter must decide whether to vote for the candidate who is less likely to pursue his or her morally flawed position and more likely to focus on other positions that promote the common good, or to not vote at all.
For Catholics, not voting is as serious a moral decision as choosing a candidate. We are obligated to participate in political life, not because government says we are, but because we agreed at our Baptism to follow Christ and restore God’s justice in our world. We do so, at least in part, by voting our faith, thereby trying to influence the political landscape to build “a more just and peaceful world through morally acceptable means, so that the weak and vulnerable are protected and human rights and dignity are defended.”
That does not mean, however, that all Catholics will vote the same way. It will be the very rare candidate who fully represents a Catholic voter and all of our areas of concern. Despite what political pundits might say, Catholics cannot be lumped into the broad categories of liberal or conservative, nor should we be led astray by interest groups who demand that Catholics vote a particular way. We must each decide for ourselves which candidates truly respect life and understand how all political issues, from abortion to taxes to energy policy, impact human dignity.
Choosing different candidates does not make one voter a better Catholic than another; it simply reflects the reality that there is often more than one solution to complex questions and our concern for the common good.
