Faithful Citizenship:
Civic Responsibility for a New Millennium
Statement by the United States Bishops (October 1999)
Contents
Introduction
The year 2000 marks a great spiritual milestone and offers an important civic
challenge. For Christians, this year represents the coming of the Great Jubilee,
marking the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. For U.S. citizens,
this year brings the election of those who will lead our government into a new
century and a new millennium.
For U.S. Catholics, these two events bring special responsibilities and
opportunities. This is a time to bring together the guidance of the Gospel and
the opportunities of our democracy to shape a society more respectful of human
life and dignity, and more committed to justice and peace.1
Challenges for Believers
Our nation has been blessed with great freedom, vibrant democratic
traditions, unprecedented economic strengths, abundant natural resources, and a
generous and religious people. Yet not all is right with our nation. Our
prosperity does not reach far enough. Our culture does not lift us up; instead
it may bring us down in moral terms. This new world we lead is still too
dangerous, giving rise to ethnic cleansing and an inability to confront hunger
and genocide. We are still falling short of the American pledge of "liberty and
justice for all," our declaration to defend the inalienable rights of the human
person—"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Signs of the challenges surround us:
1.4 million children are destroyed before birth every year. In many cities, a
majority of our children never see the day of their birth.
The younger you are, the more likely you are to be poor. A quarter of our
preschool children are growing up poor.
We watch with horror as some schools become almost war zones. Too many of our
young people have lost their moral direction, their sense of belonging, and even
their will to live. More and more they are finding community in gangs and
cliques, instead of family and faith.
Hate and intolerance haunt our nation and turn the diversity we should
celebrate into a source of division, bigotry, racism, and conflict.
A powerful economy pushes our nation forward, but it widens the gaps between
rich and poor in our nation and around the world. Some Americans are moving far
ahead, but too many are being left behind.
Families are facing serious challenges. Millions do not have basic health
care, many cannot afford housing, and in rural areas, many family farmers are
losing their way of life.
Scandal, sensationalism, and intense partisan combat diminish public life.
Too many of our leaders seem to focus more on seeking campaign contributions
than the common good.
Violence surrounds us. War, ethnic cleansing, religious persecution, the
denial of other human rights, poverty, debt, and hunger destroy the lives and
dignity of tens of thousands each year.
The next millennium requires a new kind of politics, focused more on moral
principles than on the latest polls, more on the needs of the poor and
vulnerable than the contributions of the rich and powerful, more on the pursuit
of the common good than the demands of special interests. As Catholics and as
voters, this is not an easy time for faithful citizenship. By this we mean more
than people who consistently participate in public life, but disciples who view
these responsibilities through the eyes of faith and bring their moral
convictions to their civic tasks and choices. Sometimes it seems few candidates
and no party fully reflect our values. But now is not a time for retreat. The
new millennium should be an opportunity for renewed participation. We must
challenge all parties and every candidate to defend human life and dignity, to
pursue greater justice and peace, to uphold family life, and to advance the
common good.
We hope the campaigns and elections of the year 2000 become turning points in
our democracy, leading to more participation and less cynicism, more civil
dialogue on fundamental issues and less partisan posturing and attack ads. Let
us turn to a new century with renewed commitment to active citizenship and to
full democratic participation.
Questions for the Campaign
Politics is about more than our own pocketbooks or economic interests.
Catholics, other believers, and men and women of good will raise different
questions for ourselves and for those who would lead us:
How will we protect the weakest in our midst—innocent, unborn children?
How will we overcome the scandal of a quarter of our preschoolers living in
poverty in the richest nation on earth?
How will we address the tragedy of 35,000 children dying every day of the
consequences of hunger, debt, and lack of development around the world?
How can our nation help parents raise their children with respect for life,
sound moral values, a sense of hope, and an ethic of stewardship and
responsibility?
How can society better support families in their moral roles and
responsibilities, offering them real choices and financial resources to obtain
quality education and decent housing?
How will we address the growing number of families and individuals without
affordable and accessible health care? How can health care protect and enhance
human life and dignity?
How will our society best combat continuing prejudice, bias, and
discrimination, overcome hostility toward immigrants and refugees, and heal the
wounds of racism, religious bigotry, and other forms of discrimination?
How will our nation pursue the values of justice and peace in a world where
injustice is common, destitution is widespread, and peace is too often
overwhelmed by warfare and violence?
What are the responsibilities and limitations of families, voluntary
organizations, markets, and government? How can these elements of society work
together to overcome poverty, pursue the common good, care for creation, and
overcome injustice?
How will our nation resist what Pope John Paul II calls a growing "culture of
death"? Why does it seem that our nation is turning to violence to solve some of
its most difficult problems—to abortion to deal with difficult pregnancies, to
the death penalty to combat crime, to euthanasia and assisted suicide to deal
with the burdens of age and illness?
We believe every candidate, policy, and political platform should be measured
by how they touch the human person; whether they enhance or diminish human life,
dignity, and human rights; and how they advance the common good.
A Call to Faithful Citizenship
One of our greatest blessings in the United States is our right and
responsibility to participate in civic life. The Constitution protects the right
of individuals and of religious bodies to speak out without governmental
interference, endorsement, or sanction. It is increasingly apparent that major
public issues have clear moral dimensions and that religious values have
significant public consequences. Our nation is enriched and our tradition of
pluralism enhanced when religious groups contribute to the debate over the
policies that guide the nation.
As bishops, it is not only our right as citizens but our responsibility as
religious teachers to speak out on the moral dimensions of public life. 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. Catholics are called to be
a community of conscience within the larger society and to test public life by
the moral wisdom anchored in Scripture and consistent with the best of our
nation's founding ideals. Our moral framework does not easily 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.
Jesus called us to love our neighbors by feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, caring for the sick and afflicted, and comforting the victims of
injustice.2 Our Lord's example and words demand a
life of charity from each of us. Yet they also require action on a broader scale
in defense of life, in pursuit of peace, in support of the common good, and in
opposition to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Such action involves the
institutions and structures of society, economy, and politics. As Pope John Paul
II wrote in his recent exhortation to the people of America living together in
this hemisphere:
For the Christian people of America conversion to the Gospel means to revise
"all the different areas and aspects of life, especially those related to the
social order and the pursuit of the common good." It will be especially
necessary "to nurture the growing awareness in society of the dignity of every
person and, therefore, to promote in the community a sense of the duty to
participate in political life in harmony with the Gospel."3
For Catholics, public virtue is as important as private virtue in building up
the common good. In the Catholic tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue;
participation in the political process is a moral obligation. Every believer is
called to faithful citizenship, to become an informed, active, and responsible
participant in the political process. As we said a year ago, "We encourage all
citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a
duty and privilege, but as an opportunity [more fully] 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."4
Catholic Assets in the Public
Square
Our community of faith brings three major assets to these challenges.
A Consistent Moral Framework
The Word of God and the teaching of the Church give us a particular way of
viewing the world. Scripture calls us to "choose life," to serve "the least of
these," to "hunger and thirst" for justice and to be "peacemakers." Jesus called
us to be the "leaven" in society, the "salt of the earth . . . [and] the light
of the world."5
Catholic teaching offers a consistent set of moral principles for assessing
issues, platforms, and campaigns. Because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we start
with the dignity of the human person. Our teaching calls us to protect human
life from conception to natural death, to defend the poor and vulnerable, and to
work toward a more just society and a more peaceful world. As Catholics, we are
not free to abandon unborn children because they are seen as unwanted or
inconvenient; to turn our backs on immigrants because they lack the proper
documents; to turn away from poor women and children because they lack economic
or political power. Nor can we neglect international responsibilities because
the Cold War is over. For us, the duties of citizenship begin with Gospel values
and Catholic teaching. No polls or focus groups can release us from the
responsibility to speak up for the voiceless, to act in accord with our moral
convictions.
Everyday Experience
Our community also brings broad experience in serving those in need. The
Catholic community educates the young, cares for the sick, shelters the
homeless, feeds the hungry, assists needy families, welcomes refugees, and
serves the elderly.6 In defense of life, we reach
out to children and to the sick and elderly who need help, support women in
difficult pregnancies, and assist those wounded by the trauma of abortion and
domestic violence. On many issues, we speak for those who have no voice; we have
the practical expertise and everyday experience to enrich public debate.
A Community of Citizens
The Catholic community is large and diverse. We are Republicans, Democrats,
and Independents. We are members of every race, come from every ethnic
background, and live in urban, rural, and suburban communities. We are CEOs and
migrant farm workers, senators and persons on public assistance, business owners
and union members. But we are all called to a common commitment to protect human
life and stand with those who are poor and vulnerable. We cannot be indifferent
to or cynical about the obligations of citizenship. As voters and advocates,
candidates and contributors, we are called to provide a moral leaven for our
democracy.7
The Role of the Church
Beyond the responsibilities of every Catholic, the Church as an institution
also has a role in the political order. This includes educating its members
about Catholic social teaching, highlighting the moral dimensions of public
policy, participating in debate on matters affecting the common good, and
witnessing to the Gospel through the many services and ministries provided by
the Catholic community. Our efforts in this area should not be misconstrued. The
Church's participation in public affairs does not undermine but enriches the
political process and affirms genuine pluralism. The leaders of the Church have
the right and duty to share the Church's teaching and to educate Catholics on
the moral dimensions of public life, so that they may form their consciences in
light of their faith.
As bishops, we do not seek the formation of a religious voting block, nor do
we wish to instruct persons on how they should vote by endorsing or opposing
candidates. We hope that voters will examine the position of candidates on the
full range of issues, as well as on their personal integrity, philosophy, and
performance. We are convinced that a consistent ethic of life should be the
moral framework from which to address all issues in the political arena. We urge
our fellow citizens to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric
critically, and to choose their political leaders according to principle, not
simply party affiliation or mere self-interest.8
The coming elections provide important opportunities to bring together our
principles, experience, and community in effective public witness. We hope
parishes, dioceses, schools, and other Catholic institutions will encourage
active participation through non-partisan voter registration and education
efforts.9 As Catholics we need to share our
values, raise our voices, and use our votes to shape a society that protects
human life, promotes family life, pursues social justice, and practices
solidarity. These efforts will strengthen our nation and renew our Church.
Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
The Catholic approach to faithful citizenship begins with moral principles,
not party platforms. The directions for our public witness are found in
Scripture and Catholic social teaching. Following are key themes at the heart of
our Catholic social tradition.10
Life and Dignity of the Human Person
Every human person is created in the image and likeness of God. The
conviction that human life is sacred and that each person has inherent dignity
that must be respected in society lies at the heart of Catholic social teaching.
Calls to advance human rights are illusions if the right to life itself is
subject to attack. We believe that every human life is sacred from conception to
natural death; that people are more important than things; and that the measure
of every institution is whether or not it enhances the life and dignity of the
human person.
Call to Family, Community, and
Participation
The human person is not only sacred but inherently social. The God-given
institutions of marriage and the family are central and serve as the foundations
for social life. They must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. Beyond
the family, every person has a right to participate in the wider society and a
corresponding duty to work for the advancement of the common good and the
well-being of all, especially the poor and weak.
Rights and Responsibilities
As social beings, our relationships are governed by a web of rights and
corresponding duties. Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right
to those things that allow them to live a decent life—faith and family, food and
shelter, health care and housing, education and employment. In society as a
whole, those who exercise authority have a duty to respect the fundamental human
rights of all persons. Likewise, all citizens have a duty to respect human
rights and to fulfill their responsibilities to their families, to each other,
and to the larger society.
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
Scripture teaches that God has a special concern for the poor and vulnerable.11
The prophets denounced injustice toward the poor as a lack of fidelity to the
God of Israel.12 Jesus, who identified himself
with the least of these,13 came to preach the
good news to the poor and told us, "Give to him who asks of you, do not refuse
one who would borrow from you."14 The Church
calls on all of us to embrace this preferential love of the poor and vulnerable,
to embody it in our lives, and to work to have it shape public policies and
priorities.
Dignity of Work and the Rights of
Workers
The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a
way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God's act of
creation. Work is a way of fulfilling part of our human potential given to us by
God. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of
workers, owners, and managers must be respected—the right to productive work, to
decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to economic initiative, and
to ownership and private property.
Solidarity
Because of the interdependence among all the members of the human family
around the globe, we have a moral responsibility to commit ourselves to the
common good at all levels: in local communities, in our nation, in the community
of nations. We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, wherever they may be. As
Pope John Paul II has said, "We are all really responsible for all."15
Care for God's Creation
The world that God created has been entrusted to us, yet our use of it must
be directed by God's plan for creation, not simply by our own benefit. Our
stewardship of the earth is a kind of participation in God's act of creating and
sustaining the world. In our use of creation, we must be guided by our concern
for the welfare of others, both around the world and for generations to come,
and by a respect for the intrinsic worth and beauty of all God's creatures.
Moral Priorities for Public Life
We wish to suggest some issues which we believe are important in the national
debate during 2000 and beyond. These are not the concerns of Catholics alone; in
every case we are joined with others in advocating these concerns. These brief
summaries are not intended to indicate in any depth the details of the positions
we have taken in past statements on these matters. For a fuller discussion of
our positions on these and related issues, we refer the reader to the documents
listed at the end of our statement.
Protecting Human Life
Human life is a gift from God, sacred and inviolable. This is the teaching
that calls us to protect and respect every human life from conception until
natural death. Because every human person is created in the image and likeness
of God, we have a duty to defend human life in all its stages and in every
condition. Our world does not lack for threats to human life. We watch with
horror the deadly violence of war, genocide and massive starvation in other
lands, and children dying from lack of adequate health care. Yet as we wrote in
our 1998 statement, Living the Gospel of Life, "Abortion and euthanasia have
become preeminent threats to human life and dignity because they directly attack
life itself, the most fundamental good and the condition for all others."16
Abortion, the deliberate killing of a human being before birth, is never morally
acceptable. The purposeful taking of human life by assisted suicide and
euthanasia is never an act of mercy, but is an unjustifiable assault on human
life. In assessing our obligation to protect human life, "We must begin with a
commitment never to intentionally kill, or collude in the killing, of any
innocent human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled or desperate that
life may seem."17
We urge Catholics and others to promote laws and social policies that protect
human life and promote human dignity to the maximum degree possible. Laws that
legitimize abortion, assisted suicide, and euthanasia are profoundly unjust and
wrong. We support constitutional protection for unborn human life, as well as
legislative efforts to oppose abortion and euthanasia. We encourage the passage
of laws and programs that promote childbirth and adoption over abortion and
assist pregnant women and children. We support aid to those who are sick and
dying by encouraging effective palliative care. We call on government and
medical researchers to base their decisions regarding biotechnology and human
experimentation on respect for the inherent dignity and inviolability of human
life from its very beginning.
The Church has always sought to have conflicts resolved by peaceful means
between and among nations. Church teaching calls on us to avoid and to limit the
effects of war in many different ways. Thus, direct and intentional attacks on
civilians in war are never morally acceptable, nor is the use of weapons of mass
destruction or other weapons that cannot distinguish between civilians and
soldiers.
War, genocide, and starvation threaten the lives of millions throughout the
world. We support programs and policies that promote peace and sustainable
development for the world's poor. We urge our nation to join the treaty to ban
anti-personnel landmines and to promptly ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty as a step toward much deeper cuts in and the eventual elimination of
nuclear weapons. We further urge our nation to take more serious steps to reduce
its own disproportionate role in the scandalous global trade in arms, which
contributes to violent conflicts around the world.
Society has a right and duty to defend itself against violent crime and a
duty to reach out to victims of crime. Yet our nation's increasing reliance on
the death penalty is extremely troubling. Respect for human life must even
include respect for the lives of those who have taken the lives of others. It
has become clear, as Pope John Paul II has taught, that inflicting the penalty
of death is cruel and unnecessary. The antidote to violence is not more
violence. As a part of our pro-life commitment, we encourage solutions to
violent crime that reflect the dignity of the human person, urging our nation to
abandon the use of capital punishment. Respect for human life and dignity is the
necessary first step in building a civilization of life and love.
Promoting Family Life
God established the family as the basic cell of human society. Therefore, we
must strive to make the needs and concerns of families a central national
priority. Marriage as God intended it provides the basic foundation for family
life and needs to be protected in the face of the many pressures working to
undermine it. Tax, workplace, divorce, and welfare policies must be designed to
help families stay together and to reward responsibility and sacrifice for
children. Because financial and economic factors have such an impact on the
well-being and stability of families, it is important that just wages be paid to
those who work to support their families and that special efforts be taken to
aid poor families.
The education of children is a fundamental parental responsibility.
Educational systems can support or undermine parental efforts to educate and
nurture children. No one model or means of education is appropriate to the needs
of all persons. All parents—the first, most important educators—should have the
opportunity to exercise their fundamental right to choose the education best
suited to the needs of their children, including private and religious schools.
Families of modest means especially should not be denied this choice because of
their economic status. The government should, where necessary, help provide the
resources required for parents to exercise this basic right without
discrimination. To support parents' efforts to share basic values, we believe a
national consensus can be reached so that students in all educational settings
have opportunities for moral and spiritual formation to complement their
intellectual and physical development.
Communications play a growing role in society and family life. The values of
our culture are shaped and shared in the print media and on radio, on
television, and on the internet. We must balance respect for freedom of speech
with concern for the common good, promoting responsible regulations that protect
children and families. In recent years, reduced government regulation has
lowered standards, opened the door to increasingly offensive material, and
squeezed out non-commercial, religious programming.
However, television and radio broadcasters, cablecasters, and satellite
operators are still subject to some government regulation. We support regulation
that limits the concentration of control over these media; disallows quick sales
of media outlets that attract irresponsible owners seeking a quick profit; and
opens these outlets to a greater variety of program sources, including religious
programming. We support the development of the TV rating system and of the
technology that assists parents in supervising what their children view.
The internet has created both benefits and problems. Since it offers vastly
expanded capabilities for learning and communicating, this technology should be
available to all students regardless of income. Because it poses a serious
danger by giving easy access to pornographic and violent material, we support
vigorous enforcement of existing obscenity and child pornography laws with
regard to material on the internet, as well as efforts by the industry to
develop technology that assists parents, schools, and libraries in blocking out
unwanted material.
Pursuing Social Justice
In accordance with God's plan for human society, we are called to commit
ourselves to protect and promote the life and dignity of the human person and
the common good of society as a whole. We must always remember God's special
concern for the poor and vulnerable and make their needs our first priority in
public life. We are concerned about a wide range of social issues, including
economic prosperity and justice, welfare reform, health care, housing,
agricultural policy, education, and discrimination.
Church teaching on economic justice insists that economic decisions and
institutions be judged on whether they protect or undermine the dignity of the
human person. We support policies that create jobs with adequate pay and decent
working conditions, increase the minimum wage so it becomes a living wage, and
overcome barriers to equal pay and employment for women and minorities. We
reaffirm the Church's traditional teaching in support of the right of all
workers to choose to organize and bargain collectively and to exercise these
rights without reprisal. We also affirm church teaching on the importance of
economic freedom, initiative, and the right to private property, which provide
tools and resources to pursue the common good.
Efforts to provide for the basic financial needs of poor families and
children must enhance their lives and dignity. The goal should be reducing
poverty and dependency, not simply cutting resources and programs. We seek
approaches that promote greater responsibility and offer concrete steps to help
families leave poverty behind. Recent attempts to reform the welfare system have
focused on providing productive work and training, mostly in low-wage jobs.
Until new workers find jobs that pay a living wage, they will need other forms
of support including tax credits, health care, child care, and safe, affordable
housing.
We are also concerned about the income security of low- and average-wage
workers and their families, when they retire, become disabled, or die. In many
cases, women are particularly disadvantaged. Any proposal to change Social
Security must provide a decent and reliable income for these workers and those
who depend on them.
Affordable and accessible health care is an essential safeguard of human life
and a fundamental human right. Any plan to reform the nation's health care
system must be rooted in values that respect human dignity, protect human life,
and meet the unique needs of the poor. We support health care that is affordable
and accessible to all. As part of our efforts to achieve fundamental health care
reform, we will support measures to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid and work
for incremental measures that extend health care coverage to children, pregnant
women, workers, immigrants, and other vulnerable populations. Additionally, we
support policies that provide effective, compassionate care for those suffering
from HIV/AIDS and those coping with addictions.
The lack of safe, affordable housing is a national crisis. We support a
recommitment to the national pledge of "safe and affordable housing" for all and
effective policies that will increase the supply of quality housing and
preserve, maintain, and improve existing housing. We promote public/private
partnerships, especially those that involve religious communities. We continue
to oppose all forms of discrimination in housing and support measures such as
the Community Reinvestment Act to help ensure that financial institutions meet
the credit needs of the local communities in which they are located.
The first priority for agriculture policy should be food security for all.
Food is not like any other commodity: it is necessary for life itself. Our
support for Food Stamps, the Women, Infant and Children program (WIC), and other
programs that directly benefit poor and low-income people is based on our belief
that no one should face hunger in a land of plenty. Those who grow our food
should be able to make a decent living and maintain their way of life. Farmers
deserve a decent return for their labor. Our priority concern for the poor calls
us to advocate especially for the needs of farm workers whose pay is often
inadequate and whose housing and working conditions are often deplorable. Many
farm workers are undocumented and are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
We also urge that public policies support the practice of sustainable
agriculture and careful stewardship of the earth and its natural resources.
Care for the earth and for the environment is a "moral challenge" in the
words of Pope John Paul II.18 We support
policies that protect the land, water, and the air we share, and encourage
environmental protection, sustainable development, and greater justice in
sharing the burdens of environmental neglect and recovery.
The gospel mandate to love our neighbor and welcome the stranger leads the
Church to care for immigrants, both documented and undocumented. We seek basic
protections for immigrants, including due process rights, access to basic public
benefits, and fair naturalization and legalization opportunities. We oppose
efforts to stem migration that do not effectively address its root causes and
permit the continuation of the political, social, and economic inequities that
cause it.
All persons, by virtue of their dignity as human persons, have an inalienable
right to receive a quality education. We must ensure that our nation's young
people, especially the poor and most vulnerable, are properly prepared to be
good citizens, to lead productive lives, and to be socially and morally
responsible in the complicated and technologically advanced world of the
twenty-first century. This requires an orderly, just, respectful, and
non-violent environment where adequate professional and material resources are
available. We support initiatives that provide adequate funding to educate all
children no matter what school they attend or what their personal condition. We
also support providing salaries and benefits to all teachers and administrators
that reflect the principles of economic justice, as well as providing the
resources necessary for teachers to be academically and personally prepared for
the critical tasks they face. As a matter of justice, we believe that when
services aimed at improving the educational environment—especially for those
most at risk—are available to students and teachers in public schools, these
services should be available to students and teachers in private and religious
schools as well.
Our schools and our society in general must address the growing "culture of
violence." Concern about violence leads us to promote a greater sense of moral
responsibility, to advocate a reduction in violence in the media, to support gun
safety measures and reasonable restrictions on access to assault weapons and
hand guns, and to oppose the death penalty.
Our society must also combat discrimination based on sex, race, ethnicity, or
age. Such discrimination constitutes a grave injustice and an affront to human
dignity. It must be aggressively resisted. Where the effects of past
discrimination persist, society has the obligation to take positive steps to
overcome the legacy of injustice. We support judiciously administered
affirmative action programs as tools to overcome discrimination and its
continuing effects.
Practicing Global Solidarity
Since the human family extends across the globe, our responsibility to
promote the common good requires that we do whatever we can to address human
problems wherever they arise around the world. As a very wealthy and powerful
nation, the United States has a responsibility to help the poor and vulnerable,
promote global economic prosperity and environmental responsibility, foster
stable and peaceful relations among nations, and uphold human rights in the
world community. In order to advance these goals, we urge the United States to
pursue the following:
Debt relief to overcome poverty in the poorest countries, which are shackled
by a debt burden that forces them to divert scarce resources from health,
education, and other essential services
A leading role in helping to alleviate global poverty through foreign aid
programs that support sustainable development and provide new economic
opportunities for the poor without promoting population control, and through
trade policies that are tied to worker protection, human rights, and
environmental concerns
More concerted efforts to ensure the promotion of religious liberty and other
basic human rights as an integral part of U.S. foreign policy
More consistent financial and diplomatic support for the United Nations,
other international bodies, and international law, so that these institutions
may become more effective, responsible, and responsive agents for addressing
global problems
Protection for persons fleeing persecution, who should be provided safe haven
in other countries, including the United States. In protecting refugees, special
consideration must be given to vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied
children, single women and women heads of families, and religious minorities.
Asylum must be afforded to all refugees who hold a well-founded fear of
persecution in their homelands.
A more generous immigration and refugee policy based on providing temporary
or permanent safe haven for those in need; protecting immigrant workers from
exploitation; promoting family reunification; safeguarding the right of all
peoples to return to their homelands; ensuring that public benefits and a fair
and efficient process for obtaining citizenship are available to immigrants;
extending to immigrants the full protection of U.S. law; and addressing the root
causes of migration
An affirmative role, in collaboration with the international community, in
addressing regional conflicts from the Middle East and the Balkans, to Africa,
Colombia, and East Timor. Assistance in resolving these conflicts must include a
willingness to support international peacekeeping, as well as long-term
post-conflict reconstruction efforts.
Building peace, combating poverty and despair, and protecting freedom and
human rights are not only moral imperatives; they are wise national priorities.
Given its enormous power and influence in world affairs, the United States has a
special responsibility to ensure that it is a force for justice and peace beyond
its borders. "Liberty and justice for all" is not only a profound national
pledge; it is a worthy goal for any world leader.
Conclusion
We hope these reflections will contribute to a renewed political vitality in
our land. We urge all citizens to register, vote, and stay involved in public
life, seeking the common good and renewing our democracy.
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.
Notes
1. Since 1975, the U.S. bishops' conference has developed a
reflection on "political responsibility" in advance of each presidential
election. This statement continues that tradition. It summarizes Catholic
teaching on public life and on key moral issues. These reflections build on past
political responsibility statements and integrate themes from several recent
bishops' statements including Living the Gospel of Life and Everyday
Christianity. To give a fuller sense of Catholic teaching on these matters,
major Catholic statements on public life and moral issues are listed at the
conclusion of these reflections.
2. Mt 25:31-46.
3. John Paul II, The Church in America (Ecclesia in
America) (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1999), no. 27.
4. United States Catholic Conference, Living the Gospel of
Life: A Challenge to American Catholics (Washington, D.C.: United States
Catholic Conference, 1998), no. 34.
5. Dt 30:19-20, Mt 25:40-45, Mt 5:3-12, Mt 13:33, Mt
5:13-16.
6. The Catholic community has a presence in virtually every
part of the nation, including almost 20,000 parishes, 8,300 schools, 231
colleges and universities, 900 hospitals and health care facilities, and 1,400
Catholic charities agencies. The Catholic community is the largest
non-governmental provider of education, health care, and human services in the
United States.
7. United States Catholic Conference, Everyday
Christianity: To Hunger and Thirst for Justice (Washington, D.C.: United States
Catholic Conference, 1998).
8. United States Catholic Conference, Living the Gospel
of Life.
9. Resources designed to help parishes and dioceses share
the message of faithful citizenship and develop non-partisan voter registration,
and education and advocacy programs are available from the U.S. Catholic
Conference; for more information, call 800-235-8722.
10. For a fuller discussion of these themes, see the
Catechism of the Catholic Church and Sharing Catholic Social Teaching:
Challenges and Directions.
11. Ex 22:20-26.
12. Is 1:21-23; Jer 5:28.
13. Mt 25:40-45.
14.Mt 11:5; 5:42.
15. John Paul II, On Social Concern (Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis) (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1987), no. 38.
16. United States Catholic Conference, Living the
Gospel of Life, no. 5.
17. Ibid, no. 21.
18. John Paul II, The Ecological Crisis: A Common
Responsibility, 1990 World Day of Peace Message (Washington, D.C.: United States
Catholic Conference, 1989).
__________________________________
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