Dear Friends,
Next month on this date, the elections will be over. I hope you plan to vote. But how, in particular, will you decide your choice for president?
What criteria will you use? Strict party line vote? On the basis of your pocketbook? On the basis of our future as a nation? On the needs of the many? Will you pray about your vote and consult teachings of your own faith tradition on thorny issues? On November 6th, who shall we be as Americans?
Returning to Rome from Southeast Asia and Oceania two weeks ago, Pope Francis engaged in a news conference. One reporter shared that he had always written in defense of the dignity of life. “With the U.S. elections coming up,” he asked, “what advice would you give a Catholic voter faced with a candidate who supports ending a pregnancy and another who wants to deport 11 million migrants?”
The Holy Father’s response, while not given in a formal talk, is worth considering. This is the Vatican transcript of some of his remarks.
“Both are against life. I can’t decide; I’m not American…”
“In political morality, it is generally said that not voting is not good. One must vote. And one must choose the lesser evil. Which is the lesser evil? [to vote for] That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know; each person must think and decide according to their own conscience.”
Together, let’s think, talk over troubling issues, highlight the good in each candidate as we see it.
May the choice of our vote be made with faith in God and the love of one another.
~ Sister Joan Sobala
