VOTING AS CATHOLICS:
A Matter of Principle
Bishop Paul S. Coakley
There are important issues that all voters are wrestling with as we prepare to go to the polls on November 7. How do we weigh the importance of these various issues? In August the four bishops of Kansas issued a joint pastoral statement, “Moral Principles for Catholic Voters”, to assist Catholic voters in forming their consciences as they prepare to perform their civic duty by voting. It is not our intention to endorse any particular candidates, political parties or political action committees. It is rather in the exercise of our duty as teachers that we have offered the guidelines which are summarized below.
The Right and Duty to Vote. Catholics live in the world, but they should not live by worldly values that give too much importance to power, possessions, and pleasure as ends in themselves (cf.1 Jn. 2:16). Catholics have the same rights and duties as other citizens, but are called to carry them out in light of the truth of faith and reason as taught by the Catholic Church.
The Duty to Form and Follow One’s Conscience. We are conscientious voters when we are guided by our consciences. Conscience is a law “written” by God on our hearts that disposes us to love, to do good and to avoid evil (cf. Rom.2:12-16). The conscience is like an inner voice that has the authority of the very voice of God. We have a serious duty to follow the guidance of conscience. To act against the judgment of conscience when it is certain about what is good and evil has the same seriousness as disobeying God.
It is important to remember however that it is possible for our conscience to be certain and at the same time incorrect about what is good and evil. For this reason we have an equally serious duty to properly form or teach our conscience so that it can correctly judge what is good and evil. We are obliged to seek the truth about good and evil and then to abide by it. We are guided by the light of reason which is capable of grasping truth. We are assisted also by the light of divine revelation as interpreted by the teachings of the Catholic Church on matters pertaining to faith and morals.
Prudential Judgments on Social Policy. In some moral matters the use of reason allows for a legitimate diversity in our prudential judgments. In applying moral principles to particular issues Catholic voters may arrive at different conclusions, for example, on what constitutes the best immigration policy, how to provide universal health care or affordable housing. Catholics may arrive at different conclusions on the state’s use of the death penalty or the decision to wage a just war in particular circumstances. Because these matters involve the choice between various goods, the morality in such instances lies not in what is done, but in the motives and circumstances.
Judgments Concerning Moral Evils. A correct conscience recognizes that there are some choices that always involve doing evil and which can never be chosen even as a means to a good end. These choices include elective abortion, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, the destruction of embryonic human beings in stem cell research, human cloning, and same sex “marriage”. Others choices that always involve doing evil would be racial discrimination and the production and use of pornography. Such acts are judged to be intrinsically evil, that is, evil in and of themselves, regardless of our motives or the circumstances. Concerning choices that are intrinsically evil, Catholics may not promote or even remain indifferent to them. They are always harmful to individuals, families and society.
From the foregoing it should be apparent that not all issues can be given equal value as we weigh them. While the sum of various social conditions, rights and goods contribute to the common good of a just society, some rights are more fundamental than others. Pope John Paul II warned that concern for the “right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination” (Christifideles Laici 38).
A Conscientious Voter’s Dilemma. In light of the above, it is a correct judgment of conscience that we would commit moral evil if we were to vote for a candidate who takes a permissive stand on those actions that are intrinsically evil when there is a morally-acceptable alternative. What are we to do, though, when there is no such alternative?
Because we have a moral obligation to vote, deciding not to vote at all is not ordinarily an acceptable solution to this dilemma. So, when there is no choice of a candidate that avoids supporting intrinsically evil actions, especially elective abortion, we should vote in such a way as to allow the least harm to innocent human life and dignity. We would not be acting immorally if we were to vote for a candidate who is not totally acceptable in order to defeat one who poses an even greater threat to human life and dignity.
Voting is a Moral Act. It involves duties and responsibilities. Our duty is to vote in keeping with a conscience properly formed by fundamental moral principles. As Bishops we are not telling Catholics which candidates they should vote for. Rather, we simply want to teach how we should form our consciences and consider the issues in light of these fundamental moral principles.
To read the entire pastoral statement, “Moral Principles for Catholic Voters” please access the Kansas Catholic Conference website at www.kscathconf.org .