What is it that makes one a great citizen, an ethical citizen? An ethical citizen seeks to protect and preserve the good and seeks to overturn evil.
A good and holy citizen must be familiar with the Church’s teachings, whether one is dealing with immigration, refugee assistance, international peace and justice, healthcare, workers’ rights, conscience protection, education, the environment, the nature of marriage, parental rights, stem cell research, euthanasia, the death penalty, abortion, etc. A wonderful place to find answers to these pressing questions is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church—which is the summary of the Church’s consistent teachings on faith and morals as given to us by the successors of the apostles, the bishops, in union with the successor of Peter, the pope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church embraces 2000 years of history.
As we grow in humility through the sacrament of reconciliation and enter into a deep experience of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist—which awakens and empowers the other sacraments—we become more and more Christ-like.
Prayer and the sacraments help us to see our predominant negative inclinations, faults and blind spots. Prayer, a grace-experience, helps to cure and elevate our wounded nature. We become more aware of the moral law, the moral virtues, the hierarchy of values, the theological virtues, the evangelical counsels, the gifts of the Spirit and the life of the Beatitudes. We become aware of the temptations towards rebellion and sin—which we call concupiscence. We become aware of sin and vice, and the need for prayer—whether vocal, meditative or contemplative—and our need for Mary, the Mother of the Church, the Mother of Obedience and Perfection, the Icon of her Son. To grow in holiness is to become people who live out the fullness of the Gospel as expressed and summarized in the Our Father and the Beatitudes.
Holiness, founded upon humility, the doorway to holiness, helps us recognize the competing spirits we face (the spirit of the world, the spirit of the flesh, the spirit of the devil, and the spirit of God). The discernment of spirits helps us to clearly see the issues we face, and the worldview we have accepted.
Holiness fosters an informed conscience. An informed conscience entails self-examination, silent reflection and introspection. It demands one’s absorption in the word of God and sacred tradition (the life of the Holy Spirit within the Church). An informed conscience is marked by the following qualities: A good end does not justify an evil means; Do unto others as you would like done unto you; “What you do the least of my brethren you do to me” (Mt. 25:40).
Having said all this, some parishioners inevitably and understandably come and ask, “Who am I to vote for when so few candidates share all of the Catholic Church’s teachings?” It is here that we seek to vote according to a hierarchy of values. At the top of the list is the protection of the sanctity of human life and the human family. All other rights flow from these rights. For example, the right to “cheap or free healthcare” implies that there is someone alive to receive it! Likewise, the common good of a society implies that marriage and the family function as a school of values and morals, a school of holy citizenship. If the family implodes, so does society!
When in doubt, fear not! Christ did not leave us as orphans. He has blessed us with his life, his Church. Let us pray, reflect, study and seek to be obedient to the successors of the apostles in union with the successor of Peter, the pope. In doing so, we can be assured of our role in fulfilling the obligations of holy citizenship.
Political Ethics Journal 