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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2008 /  Faithful Citizenship conferences offered at four sites

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published May 2, 2008

Detroit — It's an election year, and the Church has ideas about how Catholics should vote – not which candidates or parties they should vote for, but the principles they should follow in making choices.

"Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" – this year's Gospel of Life Conference – takes its name from the title of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' November 2007 document.

Its subtitle is: "A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States."

"This is a revised document from previous years. Not only has the title changed, but there is a real intentionality in terms of looking at the broad spectrum of issues from the beginning to end of life," says Joyce Hyttinen, director of the archdiocesan Office for Catholic Social Action.

The conference will be offered four times, once in each region of the archdiocese, to make it more accessible.

And by offering each session on a different day of the week, the hope is that almost anyone who would like to attend will be able to make it to one of the sessions.

Besides Catholic social teaching and the Church's approach to various issues, attendees will also learn the do's and don'ts of allowable political literature and activity on parish property.

Archdiocesan officials consider these rules important, not only because partisan political activities could put a parish's tax-exempt status in jeopardy, but also because it is a simple fact that no candidate or party has the Church's endorsement.

"There are Catholic Republicans and Catholic Democrats, but neither party fully embraces the totality of Catholic social teaching," says Michael Hovey, director of the Office for Catholic Social Teaching.

In fact, only official Church documents – such as the USCCB's "Forming Consciences …" document, and anything issued by the Michigan Catholic Conference or the archdiocese — will be the only election literature allowed in churches, Hovey says.

To all groups claiming a Catholic identity and seeking to have their slates or other literature made available or asking permission to place them on cars in the parking lot, the answer should be a simple "No," Hovey continues.

Msgr. Robert McClory, chancellor of the archdiocese, will speak to these points and others, such as whether parishes can host candidate forums or other election-related events.

Hovey says the bishops maintain that some issues involve intrinsic evil – such as abortion, torture and racism – and that "a Catholic should never vote for a candidate who promotes these things."

Other issues, however, require prudential judgments, he adds.

"The bishops say we are not a single-issue Church; so a candidate's position on an issue is not enough to guarantee a Catholic's support, but a candidate's position on a single issue such as abortion or racism could disqualify him or her from receiving a Catholic's support," Hovey explains.

Each conference will offer an adult track and a youth track. All participants will be together at the beginning and the end of the day, which runs from 9 a.m. to 2:40 p.m., but will split off into different workshops.

Adult-track workshops will focus on preaching and reflection, pastoral leadership, or planning for action in the parish.

Youth – mostly from Catholic high schools or members of parish youth groups – will attend sessions designed to help them examine social issues through the lens of their faith and understand the process of Catholic conscience formation.

Joe Gall, associated director of the Office for Youth Ministry, says he sees the youth track as part of the greater effort "to mobilize all the generations about what we teach as a Church."

Overall, says Hovey, the idea for the Faithful Citizenship conferences is "to have a better-informed Catholic community, on Catholic social teaching, in this election year."