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From the Friars: How Does a Catholic Navigate the World of Politics?
Did you hear the one about the conservative who needed a heart transplant and the liberal that needed a brain transplant? They searched for donors among family and friends, but in the end, they both died…because no one could find a conservative that had a heart, and there weren’t any liberals that had any brains.
This joke reminds me of the polarization which has come into our Church and nation, often fueled by opposing political parties. Conservatives are accused of having “hard” hearts and heads and Liberals are accused of having “soft” hearts and heads. Indeed, when a faithful Catholic goes into the voting booth one is often frustrated trying to find a candidate who exemplifies Catholic values and principles.
We all want to protect human life from conception to natural death and often favor the “little guy” over Big Business (or “Big” Tech, Pharma, Oil, or Academia). We all want to help the poor, but we’re fed up with the government wasting tax dollars needlessly. So what’s a faithful Catholic to do?
Study and apply Catholic Social Teaching (CST)! CST is not the Church telling us what to do or how to think, but rather the Church helping both the average Catholic in the pew and the Catholic policymaker to make decisions based on well-ordered principles and prudential judgments.
Pope Leo’s newest Encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitatis”, exemplifies what Bishop Barron has called, a “satisfying ideological equilibrium” by reviewing core principles of CST. For instance, subsidiarity, which stresses authority at the local level (typically favored by conservatives) is placed in a proper tension with solidarity, our moral obligation to assist one another (which tends to be touted by liberals). Likewise, the dignity of the individual (often stressed by conservatives) is balanced by the common good (a position stressed by liberals). The moral legitimacy of private property and the free market (a stance held by conservatives for hundreds of years) is put on an equal footing with the universal destination of goods (something that people falsely equate with Communism).
Properly understood then we should have “hard” heads and “soft” hearts…that’s the Catholic Way. A way to enter into dialogue with politicians on both sides of the political spectrum.
Fr. Andrew
