One of the key characteristics of our religion is that it urges us to "get
involved," and not just to sit back and be passive observers.
This actually flows from our teaching about God Himself. He is not a passive
observer of the world He created. He got involved quite fully, by joining the
human community as one of us, speaking to us in our own language, and giving His
life on the cross. God mixed in dramatically with the things of the world.
So do we his followers. That's why the bishops recently wrote these words:
"We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their
citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity
meaningfully to participate in building the culture of life. Every voice
matters in the public forum. Every vote counts. Every act of responsible
citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power. We must exercise
that power in ways that defend human life, especially those of God's children
who are unborn, disabled or otherwise vulnerable.." (Living the Gospel of
Life, 1998, n.34).
"Every vote counts." Sometimes we don't believe that. But it counts in many
ways, and one of those ways is in our own spiritual life. What we do, in other
words, not only has an effect (small or large) on the world around us,
but also has an effect on the world inside us. To become informed about
the issues of our day, the positions of all the candidates, and then to vote
according to our conscience, constitutes a significant expression of who we
are. Convictions that are expressed -- by voting, for example -- are
convictions that are made stronger within us. The act of voting goes a long way
toward answering the question of our conscience, "Have I played the role I could
play, no matter how small, in my section of the stage of history? Have I, like
the boy with the five barley loaves and two fish, or the widow with the mite,
made my small contribution to the large and complex unfolding of the human
story? Can I stand before the Lord and say, Yes, I spoke, I acted, I took
part?"
In a 1999 document, Faithful Citizenship, the Administrative Committee
of the US Bishops' Conference put it this way:
"The call to faithful citizenship raises a fundamental question. What
does it mean to be a believer and a citizen in the year 2000 and beyond? As
Catholics, we can celebrate the Great Jubilee by recommitting ourselves to
carry the values of the Gospel and church teaching into the public square. As
citizens, we can and must participate in the debates and choices over the
values, vision, and leaders that will take our nation into the next century.
This dual calling of faith and citizenship is at the heart of what it means to
be a Catholic in the United States as we look with hope to the beginning of a
new millennium."
