Bishop Stowe: Neither political party nor candidate fully embraces Catholic teaching

In certain circles there is great interest in the so-called Catholic vote. While neither the church nor its bishops or pastors are permitted to make endorsements or tell people how to vote, both presidential campaigns are heavily targeting the Catholic population. Many prominent Catholics, including clerics, have taken to social media and other outlets to denounce those who would vote for one or the other party. Some seem to want to make the moral decision for everyone else and have proclaimed that voting for a particular candidate is either a matter of serious sin or outside the realm of possibility for “real” Catholics. None of this is consistent with the teaching of the church nor the document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops releases in advance of each presidential election cycle.

There is no political party that fully embraces Catholic teaching. The church insists on its right to a voice in the public square to argue how its teachings are aimed toward the common good and therefore promote good public policy. There is no current candidate who embraces the fullness of Catholic teaching. It is well known that the Catholic candidate, Joe Biden, supports upholding Roe v. Wade and thus the legality of abortion. This is clearly in opposition to the Catholic Church’s teaching and expectations for its members in public office. It is also well known that the current president has spoken and acted in opposition to many life issues as described by Pope Francis, who affirms the continuous teaching of the church on abortion and insists that defense of the unborn needs to be “clear, firm and passionate.” The pope says further, “equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”

Just this week, we have learned that 545 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border cannot be reunited despite court orders to do so because the parents cannot be located. The Trump administration has recently resumed federal executions, also against the teaching of the Catholic Church. The president’s refusal to renounce white supremacists, the derogatory language he has used against women, people of color, and the handicapped are all in opposition to the church’s teaching about the dignity of the human person. The refusal to admit asylum seekers, seriously diminishing the number of refugees admitted to the country and abusing the human rights of those in immigration custody are all acts that go against Catholic teaching.

In an encyclical released on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis, Pope Francis shares the words and vision of the 13th-century saint from Assisi in a plea for humanity to recognize that we are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God. Chapter 5 of that encyclical envisions a new kind of politics that is entirely ordered to the common good and affirms the dignity of all human beings and the importance of their inclusion in the ordering of society. He reminds his readers that when Jesus was asked what must be done to attain eternal life, after affirming the great commandments of loving God and loving one’s neighbor, his questioner wanted to know who is meant by “neighbor.” Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Two religious people pass by from a distance when they see a man beaten by robbers and suffering on the roadside while a foreigner goes out of his way to assist the man and generously provides for his care. When his questioner acknowledges that the Samaritan was the one who acted as a neighbor, Jesus finished his answer to the question about eternal life, telling his questioner and us to “go and do likewise.”

The pope laments how our present structures and lifestyles have not sufficiently brought the world together to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic, “for all our hyper-connectivity, we witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all.” We will need a global community for the healing of the planet from climate change and in order to combat the other contemporary viruses of racism, radical individualism, xenophobia, and the widespread suffering in the world. True to his nature as a universal pastor, the pope calls the world to conversion of hearts, minds, attitudes and even political structures. Market or technological solutions alone will not sustain our world nor bring us into peaceful coexistence. Politics, according to the pope, has to be more noble than mere posturing, marketing and media spin.

Unless and until we are ready to address a culture of consumption that treats too many human lives as disposable, our discussions of the Catholic vote are pretty shallow. The pope was inspired to write this encyclical when he issued a joint statement with the Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb in Abu Dahbi that declared, “God has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and has called them to live together as brothers and sisters.” I look forward to the time when discussions about the Catholic vote are dialogues about how best to implement this wonderful vision for the common good of humanity.

John Stowe is the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington.

This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 1:29 PM.