October 2000      Faithful Citizenship “As members of the Catholic community, we enter the public forum to act on our moral convictions, share our experience in serving the poor and vulnerable, and add our values to the dialogue over our nation’s future. Our moral framework does not fit the categories of right or left, Democrat or Republican. Our responsibility is to measure every party and platform by how its agenda touches human life and dignity.” These words are from Faithful Citizenship, published last fall by the Bishops’ U.S. Catholic Conference. The bishops have issued similar statements about political responsibility in election years since the mid-1970’s. This year’s version summarizes themes of Catholic Social Teaching, then applies them to a wide range of moral priorities in four categories: Protecting human life: abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, peace, sustainable development, global arms trade, death penalty. Promoting family life: marriage, just wages, education, communications. Pursuing social justice: economic justice, workers, health care, housing, agriculture, hunger, farm workers, environment, immigrants, education, discrimination. Practicing global solidarity: debt relief, global poverty, religious liberty, human rights, U.N., refugees, immigration, regional conflicts. Order copies from USCC: 800 235-8722. On the Web: www.nccbuscc.org
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