It's election day; what is a faithful Catholic to do?

First and foremost, vote.  Faithful Catholics should vote.  The Catholic Church strongly encourages it's voting age members to take part in the political process.  The Church encourages Catholics to inform themselves on the issues and the positions of the candidates.  Furthermore, when it comes time to pull that voting lever, a Catholic should do so with a full and properly informed conscience.


Catholics are obliged by their vote to affirm life.  In 2004 Pope Benedict reaffirmed Catholic teaching that politicians who fully support intrinsic evils, abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research, are to be avoided.  These intrinsic evils trump other candidate positions even on things like the death penalty and various positions on taxes. 


Sometimes Catholics are faced with a slate of candidates where everyone may be pro-life.  This almost never happens anymore at a national level but can happen locally.  For me, as a Catholic, that is when I have the luxury to find out which candidate then most closely reflects my values as a faithful Catholic.  Does the candidate support the common good and do his/her policies and promises reflect a preferential option for the poor and the truly marginalized?  But what happens when the faithful Catholic confronts two candidates that are both anti-life?  That then is the much more difficult position.  Perhaps we should refrain from voting or even vote for a "minor" candidate who has no chance of victory on election day.  Pope John Paul II actually addressed this in 1994 and explained the duty of the Catholic to be so informed as to discern which candidate presents the best possibility of less evil as opposed to more evil.


For me, I follow the principle that first and foremost the candidate receiving my vote affirms life, from conception to natural death.  This is quite a challenge as most often, pro-life candidates as it stands with abortion are ironically pro death penalty.  Despite my objections to the death penalty, I can never vote for a candidate who is pro abortion.  It is my hope that I can find a candidate who supports life at all levels.  Furthermore, I look for those candidates who espouse policies and procedures that will more closely align with natural law and divine and positive law.  Yes, this takes discernment!


So dear Catholic please vote, and vote with a fully formed conscience that is informed by faith.  For more help, this guide seems to be helpful and probably explains what I have attempted to express in a more clear and succinct way.  In any event, VOTE!




http://www.ewtn.com/vote/brief_catechism.htm