Living a life of faith in Jesus Christ is an ongoing process of transformation. Look no further than the lives of the saints; men and women throughout history whose personal conversions produced abundant graces. The Lord is inviting saints and sinners alike to come closer to Him, and to be mindful of decisions and choices that impact others, including those in the broader community.

Moving closer to Christ leads one to discipleship, where Christians strive to live Gospel values with hope, peace, and joy each day of the week—no different on a Tuesday than after Mass on Sunday. Living as a disciple in today’s culture takes effort and is sometimes challenging. The same can be said when stepping into the voting booth or filling out an absentee ballot.

The values, morals, and ethics with which Catholics carry themselves extend to civic participation and how candidates for office are judged. Those who commit to following the Lord seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help inform their choices. Candidates are then elected, who go on to make decisions about our communities, state, and nation.

  "Catholic voters should be guided more by moral convictions than by attachments to a political party or interest group."

How does faith apply to politics? And, should it? The simple answer is: Yes. The Church and her teachings shed light on important truths about human nature, such as the dignity and sanctity of every human life, the obligation to protect and serve the most vulnerable, and the purposes of marriage and family. These truths are not solely religious beliefs but also universal principles that all people can come to recognize through natural reason.

Every election season, some who are skeptical of applying faith to political participation claim—mistakenly—that a separation of church and state forbids such an approach. The vision advanced by President Thomas Jefferson was not to prevent religious persons or groups from participating in American democracy, but to maintain a wall that prevents government from encroaching into individual conscience rights and the religious life of citizens.3

Freedom of conscience and free participation of believers in American public life was considered so essential (and remains as such) that religious liberty was enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. For Catholics, the Church guides the faithful to exercise their right to free participation in the democratic process by engaging in a period of prayerful discernment and conscience formation prior to voting

For faith to inform one’s participation in civic life, forming a Catholic conscience becomes an important and helpful first step.

Conscience, as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is the point of judgment where a person recognizes the moral quality of a particular act. Formed according to God’s revelation and the teachings of the Church, conscience helps a person discern how to act in accordance with the truth. (Gaudium et Spes, No. 16)

Rather than a mere feeling, or a green light to justify doing anything a person wants, conscience can be thought of as the voice of God within that invites a person to do good, to act justly, and to treat others with dignity and respect. Doing the right thing—particularly in tough situations—is a process that starts with internal listening, continues in prayer, and ends with rejecting an evil or a harmful outcome.

    "A Catholic conscience, formed according to God’s revelation and the teachings of the Church, helps individuals act according to the truth."

A Catholic conscience is best formed through prayer and regular reception of the sacraments, along with reading Scripture and the spiritual and teaching resources handed down by the Church. It is important to recognize certain acts are incompatible with love of God and neighbor and are always opposed to the authentic good of persons. These acts, called intrinsic evils, should always be rejected. (FCFC, No. 22)

As for how this concept applies to voting, consider the following teachings of the U.S. bishops from their document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship:

  *  It is essential for Catholics to be guided by a well-formed conscience that recognizes that all issues do not carry the same moral weight and that the moral obligation to oppose policies promoting intrinsically evil acts has a special claim on our consciences and our actions.

  *  A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who favors a policy promoting an intrinsically evil act, such as abortion, euthanasia, racist behavior, assisted suicide, deliberately subjecting workers or the poor to subhuman living conditions, or redefining marriage in ways that violate its essential meaning, if the voter’s intent is to support that position.

  *  There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position even on policies promoting an intrinsically evil act may reasonably decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons.

 *   A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet if a candidate’s position on a single issue promotes an intrinsically evil act, such as legal abortion, redefining marriage in a way that denies its essential meaning, or racist behavior, a voter may legitimately disqualify a candidate from receiving support.

  *  These decisions should consider a candidate’s commitments, character, integrity, and ability to influence a given issue. In the end, this is a decision to be made by each Catholic guided by a conscience formed by Catholic moral teaching.

The social teachings proclaimed by the Church offer a refreshing vision of hope, because they are founded in God, who is the infinite source of all goodness and love (FCFC, Introductory Note for the 2024 election). Accepting with prayer the Church’s teachings will challenge longstanding voting habits and even historic loyalty to a particular party. However, a conscience formed by these teachings provides a cohesive and consistent perspective on current issues, where political choices are guided by faith, rather than by partisan stances.

To help summarize the Church’s social tradition, the following nine advocacy principles help illustrate what the Church teaches and are meant to assist in evaluating candidate positions on policy issues.

Upon reflection, Catholic voters should ask themselves if the candidates for whom they are considering voting embody these principles, and if so, how.

Upholding the Dignity of Human Life

Providing for the Poor and Vulnerable

Protecting Religious Liberty and the Freedom to Serve

Supporting Students, Schools, and Parents

Strengthening Marriages and Families

Improving Access to Healthcare

Pursuing Restorative Justice

Welcoming Immigrants and Refugees

Caring for Creation and Preserving Natural Resources

*Please follow link to article to expand on each principle.

It can be challenging to compare Catholic teaching with the positions espoused by candidates for office. Neither of the country’s two major political party platforms adhere to the full range of Catholic teaching. Making these voting decisions is sometimes discouraging. But Catholics are called as disciples of Christ to be a light in the world and to guide others toward the righteous path.

While it is important to spend time researching the candidates and the issues, putting on the mind of Christ before voting also necessitates stepping away from the noise through the election cycle.

The Church and this focus publication cannot and will not tell individuals which presidential or Michigan-based candidate they should vote for. Such decisions are to be made after forming one’s conscience based on the teachings of the Church and prayerful reflection of candidate positions. It is up to all Catholics and people of goodwill to do the best they can to make wise judgments about the candidates and the issues.

Everything else is in God’s hands.