Mission and the Catholic Conscience: The 2020 Elections in the United States of America
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Today, October 22, 2020, the USCMA Board of Directors issued Mission and the Catholic Conscience – The 2020 Elections in the United States of America. It calls on citizens to make two decisions. “First, choose the candidates you believe best represents our Catholic beliefs and values.” The second decision is on how “you are going to advocate for all Catholic beliefs and values regardless of who wins the Presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.”
We are in a highly charged and polarized election. People are already voting. Bishops, Priests, and theologians have made a statement about the importance of voting. Universities are hosting webinars and podcasts about the election. USCCB issued Faithful Citizenship and launched Civilize It – an effort to encourage respectful political discourse. USCMA believes that missionaries bring a unique perspective because they are called to be with and for people. This includes people in their own city and country during this election. Mission and the Catholic Conscience affirms that missionaries “stand with and for the people we accompany. Today, we are with Democrats and Republicans, women and men, progressives and conservatives, young and old, black, brown, and white, through the 2020 Presidential election. We also stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers around the world that may benefit, or suffer, from the policies of the United States.”
Don McCrabb, Executive Director of USCMA, noted that “this statement not only calls on all Catholics but it also calls on all missionaries to recover their identity as citizens and accompany others in their struggle to become faithful citizens.”
The statement was inspired by Pope Francis, Saint John XXIII, and Saint John Paul II. The statement is attached. Please share it widely. USCMA is accepting donations to promote the evangelization of political discourse and the formation of missionaries to accompany them through their struggle to be faithful citizens.
To date, several missionary groups have endorsed the statement: Missionhurst (CICM), Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, the Maryknoll Sisters, the Columban Fathers, and Rev. Mark R Francis, C.S.V. President, Catholic Theological Union. All mission related organizations are invited to sign the statement. Email Don McCrabb (dmccrabb@uscatholicmission.org) to add your signature. USCMA will update the signatures on a regular basis.
Missionaries we are called to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into every strata of society. They do that by being with and for our sisters and brothers in their struggles to be faithful citizens, by seeing and celebrating what is good and noble in any political position, and cultivating a renewed Catholic understanding, and praxis, of citizenship. May God bless their efforts to form a more perfect union.
Resources
Mission and the Catholic Conscience – The 2020 Elections in the United States of America