Render Unto Caesar What Is Caesar’s And To God What Is God’s
My Dear Parishioners,
Our Blessed Savior commands us to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.
Since we owe both our existence and our redemption to God, we then owe God all that is good in our lives and our complete loyalty. In other words, we must love the Lord Our God with our whole minds, bodies, and souls.
Our Blessed Savior also reminds us that we must then love our neighbors as ourselves.
Our love of God and neighbor then binds us to do all that is in our power to make the Kingdom of God present here on earth. By making the Kingdom of God present here on earth, we teach others the Way of Jesus, and we show others the path to Heaven. This is very much in our power when we do God’s work here on earth.
As we enter into this election cycle—and I can’t wait until it is over, I am already sick of the ads, the sound bites, and the negativity—we are reminded of our obligation to use our power to vote to advance the Kingdom of God. This obligation is for the good of our own souls and for the good of the souls of our neighbors.
I am including a very nicely written voter’s guide from the Michigan Catholic Bishop’s Conference. Please feel free to share it. I hope it helps in forming your own conscience and the consciences of those who read it.
God our Father, giver of life, we entrust the United States of America to your loving care. You are the rock on which this nation was founded. You alone are the true source of our cherished rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Reclaim this land for your glory and dwell among your people. Send your Spirit to touch the hearts of our nation’s leaders. Open their minds to the great worth of human life and the responsibilities that accompany human freedom. Remind Your people that true happiness is rooted in seeking and doing Your Holy Will. Through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, patroness of our land, grant us the courage to reject the “culture of death.” Lead us into a new millennium of life. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
St. Joseph, Patron of the Church and our Patron, pray for us!
Fr. Michael J Pawelko,
Pastor
Before voting, put on the ‘mind of Christ’ Michigan Catholic Conference (micatholic.org)
Christ calls each person to be a light in the world. As the general election approaches this fall, Catholics can be such a light by allowing the truths of the faith to inform their voting decisions.
It may be challenging for some to view the election with this mindset, as reflexive support for a particular party and the ongoing level of disappointment with the integrity and suitability of some candidates linger.
Still, representative democracy in the United States requires public officials to be responsive to the will of voters, who have the collective ability to influence candidates and issues through choices made at the ballot.
In short, Catholics have an important role to play each election, including this year, to improve the moral fabric of the state and the nation.
In addition to selecting a presidential candidate, Michigan voters this year will fill one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats. Other significant races include Michigan’s 14 congressional districts, all 110 seats in the state House of Representatives, and two justices of the Michigan Supreme Court. Voters should also remember the importance of local races and issues that impact counties, municipalities, and school districts.
Voting is sometimes described as a civic duty. Yet, Pope Francis has said that each person also has a “vocation as citizen,” and so voting also takes on a moral dimension for Catholics.
This edition of focus is intended to help Catholics in Michigan embrace the vocation of a faithful citizen in the 2024 election and beyond. From one end of the state to another, all are encouraged to consider St. Paul’s exhortation to “put on the mind of Christ” before voting. 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.
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, the beauty of chastity and purity, what makes a marriage, 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.
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.
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 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.
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
- 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 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 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. 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.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.