October 16, 2020

For The Good

As you may know, I have been our bishop a little under two months and as we get closer to November 3^rd I’ve heard two requests rather consistently: “Bishop tell us what to do and who to vote for” and “Bishop, don’t you dare tell us what to do.” So, as an equal opportunity offender I will upset both groups! First of all, we all should be pro-life, pro-freedom of conscience, pro-charity, and pro-American! Therefore, I am going to tell us what to do, and that is, vote with a well-formed conscience. I am also going to give us a little homework by inviting us to read our two bishops’ conference letters: Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship and Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics. However, I am not going to tell you whom you must vote for because I am both pro-American and pro-freedom of Conscience. As Americans with the God-given gift of free-will, we must each use it to the best of our ability.

As your bishop, I do not support any single party platform, but rather the Catholic Creed. So let us turn to what we believe, namely:

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. This means that if God is our Father then we really are brothers and sisters with all of humanity. This is exactly what Pope Francis just reminded us of in his new letter Fratelli Tutti. “All brothers and sisters,” imagine what a better society this would be if we truly respected each other, even in our differences? Pope Francis included a section on “political charity” that would be worthy of reading for both sides of the aisle (FT, 176 ff). In addition, I found particularly moving the section on forgiveness, which is so desperately needed in our society today (FT, 250-254). All decisions we make, even the choice of political candidates are oriented to our goal – eternal life in heaven! But because this life matters as well, so does all that God has created – we are to be good stewards of this creation.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. If Christ is really Lord, then we must make all important decisions in prayer. Jesus you are Lord of my life, who do you want me to vote for? We call this discernment – every decision of our lives, and certainly the ones that have such significant impacts, should be made in prayer as we allow God to inform our consciences and decision making process.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. All life is sacred – the unborn, the vulnerable, the immigrant, the poor, the sick, the incarcerated, the elderly, and this list could go on an on. In these days of COVID-19, life threatening storms, and other natural disasters, we have been reminded just how vulnerable and precious the very balance of our lives can be. As our medical professionals race to develop a vaccine to lead us out of global pandemic, we have had a chance to reflect that saving every life is important. I repeat, all life is sacred, and that life in the womb is a “pre-eminent priority” among all of the life issues (cf. the USCCB documents above). God is the source, “the Lord, the giver of life” and no one has the right to extinguish another’s life from the womb to the tomb.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

This last line of our Creed reminds us that we are all a family of faith. May we live in the unity of the Trinity as we face difficult choices in life. May we respond always as men and women of faith, making decisions according to our well-formed consciences, keeping before us the good of our society and the eternal salvation of our souls. Vatican II reminds us of the dignity, beauty, and importance of conscience:

Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, tells him inwardly at the right movement: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. His dignity lies in observing this law, and by it he will be judged. His conscience is man’s most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths (Gaudium et Spes, 16).

I cannot tell you what to do, you are a free American citizen, but I can remind you that you are first and foremost a “citizen of heaven.” May we always allow that citizenship to enlighten our minds and hearts. May God bless you and may God bless America!

[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”auto” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, in English and in Spanish, and Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics can be found of the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at www.usccb.org. [/dropshadowbox]

Bishop David L. Toups