Faithful Citizenship

Chicago's Cardinal Francis George is newly elected to head Catholic Bishops in America. The group has issued a guide for Catholics to vote their conscience, called "Faithful Citizenship". Abortion is front and center, as it should be. Tribune:

Voters are implored not to support abortion-rights political candidates but also advised that views on abortion should not be the sole factor. Catholics should also weigh church teaching on such moral issues as immigration, just war and poverty, bishops said.

Well, the church may be a universal one, but nations are defined by their borders. A uniquely open society like America's needs to use some common sense on immigration--securing our borders while we work toward a solution that reinforces and rewards the legal and orderly immigration needed for our economy. Here's a salient comment on the war:

As a result of the public debate, bishops were able to shape the document on the floor. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago insisted that the guidelines urge Catholics to consider the religious roots of current conflicts overseas.

"The people who coalition forces are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and a dozen other locales are not the poor and oppressed seeking to throw off their chains," he said. "They are jihadist fanatics who believe they are doing God's will."

As far as tackling poverty I recommend the Catholic Acton Institute's approach, which focuses on the individual.

It's not clear how this will affect voting patterns, as Catholics as a group tend to vote like everyone else. Whether they are regular church-goers or not is more descriptive, and these tend to vote more conservatively on abortion. The question is what issues are paramount in 2008, and of course who are the respective nominees. There are conflicting views on Giuliani's appeal to Catholics.

Pope Benedict will visit the US for the first time next April, adding another element to the mix.