Pax Christi says voting for common good involves many issues

Published: 2004-10-01

ERIE, Pa. (CNS) -- To work for the common good Catholics must base their political votes "on the full range of issues," Pax Christi USA said Oct. 1 in a statement titled "Life Does Not End at Birth." Its statement, also signed by more than 200 Catholic organizations, was published Oct. 1 as a full-page paid advertisement in daily newspapers in Erie and Allentown, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; and Morgantown, W.Va. The statement quotes from a November 2002 doctrinal note on political responsibility issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: "The Christian faith is an integral unity, and thus it is incoherent to isolate some particular element to the detriment of the whole of Catholic doctrine. A political commitment to a single isolated aspect of the church's social doctrine does not exhaust one's responsibility towards the common good." The statement was issued in the midst of a wide debate among U.S. Catholics about the extent to which a politician's stand on legalized abortion should be a determining factor when a Catholic voter casts his ballot. "Members of the media -- and indeed a few of our own religious leaders -- do a great disservice to our church and nation when they attempt to use one or another issue as the benchmark for Catholic identity," the statement said. Pax Christi USA is a section of Pax Christi International, the international Catholic peace movement. Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala of Los Angeles, bishop president of Pax Christi USA, said, "The tradition of the Catholic faith teaches that all life is sacred, and in that spirit Catholics are called to vote on the wide range of life issues that are accountable to holding up the dignity of humanity: war, poverty, health care, abortion, capital punishment, mistreatment of immigrants and racism, to name a few." He said a politician's commitment to the sanctity of life "must be judged by the actions taken to defend and promote life in all its forms."

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