Titled “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility From the Catholic Bishops of the United States,” the document has been offered as a guide to Catholic voters every presidential election year since 1976.It has been updated and revised at four-year intervals to reflect changes in the issues confronting the country since it first appeared. One thing “Faithful Citizenship” is not is a mandate on which candidate for public office to vote for, Archbishop Coakley said. Voting, he added, is a responsibility to be taken seriously and that requires prudential judgment in determining who can best serve the common good.“The document is meant to give Catholic voters an opportunity to reflect upon how their faith intersects with their political and civic responsibilities,” said the archbishop, who chairs the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
“But I think we need to begin in prayer. We need to know our faith. We need to study our faith. We need to have recourse to the catechism and what it might teach about certain questions. “This document is intended to be that, an official guide for the formation of consciences that Catholics can utilize as they weigh these questions,” the archbishop said.
“The threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed. At the same time, we cannot dismiss or ignore other serious threats to human life and dignity, such as racism, the environmental crisis, poverty and the death penalty.”
The videos are posted on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website at faithfulcitizenship.org and the USCCB’s YouTube channel at bit.ly/31DHDGN. They are part of the bishops’ effort to broaden their outreach through the document.
Four English-language videos of about two minutes in length examine participation in public life, protecting human life and dignity, promoting the common good and loving others. The fifth video is a six-minute compilation of the highlights of the four shorter pieces.“People respond to different media,” Archbishop Coakley said. “This is a very technically savvy audience today, especially younger voters. The videos use powerful images and brief statements that illustrate some of the teaching embodied in the formal document.”
Other wide-ranging resources are being made available to parishes, schools, prayer groups and other interested parties through the faithful citizenship web page.“The videos are meant to reflect the teaching of the bishops in ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,'” Rauh said. “The videos are really trying to make that teaching more accessible.”
“This is our chance to bring a different light to bear to a very important fundamental civic responsibility.”“My hope and prayer is that Catholics who really want their faith to influence their decision making when it comes to going to the polls will give the reflections in this document consideration rather than just going to their favorite news source,” he said. “That’s going to be a very different kind of guidance than what they receive from their favorite cable news anchor or pundit.