Since volume and pitch are down a bit as we approach yet another election cycle, it might be a good time to broach the subject of what’s political side-taking and what’s moral principle. Priests and deacons, at times, end up being accused of being political when they preach on certain topics. A whole parish can be critiqued if it hosts an educational session about a legislative proposal. Priests, deacons, religious sisters and lay ministers may get a thumbs-down if they show up at a rally for one cause or another. And every diocesan bishop gets letters.

What’s often misunderstood is that the Church is obliged to present clear moral teaching and counsel. When we decry abortion and euthanasia and pray rosaries while holding pro-life signs, Catholics and their leaders aren’t being politically partisan. When a group petitions the governor to stay an execution and commute a sentence to life in prison — and when Catholic leaders and laity assemble outside the fence of Broad River Correctional Institution the night of a scheduled execution — they are not practicing politics.

When Archbishop Wenski of Miami joins the Knights on Bikes — Knights of Columbus on motorcycles — to protest the construction of and conditions at a detention center, the focus is human dignity, not political favoritism.

When Bishop Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville speaks of the “pastoral urgency” of addressing “the plight of the immigrant,” he is doing the same: speaking for the obligation of the Christian to respect the humanity of all people.

When Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, our bishop, makes public statements and writes letters about numerous issues, including when South Carolina stages an execution, his statements address Catholic morality and ethics, not partisan politics.

When sisters feed people without asking for their papers, they are following the command of Christ.

When a group prays the Stations of the Cross for racial understanding during Lent — promoted and published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — it is not instructing people on party politics.

The same must be said when bishops from around the world plead for human rights, peace, care for the environment and relief for those facing dire poverty and starvation.

These are moral issues. The foundations of the Catholic approach to these and other matters reach back to both the Old and New Testaments, Church Fathers and medieval theologians like Sts. Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. The Hebrew prophets chided people for abuse of the poor, unfair mercantile practices and the neglect of widows, orphans and the resident alien. Jesus preached parables about the moral necessity of attending to the needs of those wounded at the roadside and begging at the gate. Christ himself was a victim of injustice in terms of a biased verdict and the death penalty. Fathers of the Church, theologians and magisterial voices since have enunciated moral principles concerning just wars, commutative and distributive justice, the duties of civil rulers and the commitment to the common good of society.

Not surprisingly, popes from Leo XIII to Leo XIV have addressed the rights of workers, the fundamental right to life, the rights of families, the principle of subsidiarity when it comes to governance and the obligation of the affluent and their societies to support the indigent and to assist the development of poorer nations.

Popes have denounced the “culture of death,” the arms race, the development and stockpiling of anti-population weapons, the attack on human life, the attempt to redefine gender and sexual mores and all manner of practices that dehumanize others — such as human trafficking. Church leaders have pointed out the evils implicit in communism, socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. They do so because of the very fundamental Christian command to find Christ in the “least” of the brothers and sisters and to tend to their very basic needs. They have cautioned us against commodifying persons rather than finding in them the image and likeness of God. 

With all this in mind, we are asked to go to the polls mindful of not only the charisma of particular personalities on the ballot but, more importantly, the platforms and principles for which they stand — or which they defy. A helpful guide is Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, published by the U.S. bishops and available at usccb.org/sjp/forming-consciences-faithful-citizenship. We also have the South Carolina Catholic Conference — sccatholicconference.org — which offers resources and information about advocacy and events from the Catholic perspective.

Most of all, despite the complexity of contemporary politics, we are asked to take very seriously the moral right and moral duty to vote. We are not privy to what people might say in confession, but it is most likely the rare penitent who will go in and mention not bothering to vote. But the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes it clear: “Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country” (2240). This is preceded by article 2239, which speaks about the duty of citizens to contribute to the overall good of society. It is followed by article 2242, which addresses situations in which “the citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel.”

The first Tuesday in November is coming. There are cautions here for all of us, one of which is a caution that we must vote thoughtfully rather than blindly following any party’s line. Another caution is that we have no right to complain if we simply sit out an election.

An informed conscience is our sanctuary, and forever and ever Christ is our exemplar, our teacher and our sovereign.