When the United States was a young nation there was a good deal of prejudice against Catholics. Much of this prejudice was a holdover from the religious conflicts of Europe that had afflicted that part of the world for centuries. One concern was that the Vatican would control American policy if Catholics had a strong voice in government. There was also some ethnic prejudice against the Irish and Italians, who were largely Catholic. There were riots, church and school burnings, and marches (like in Charlottesville and elsewhere recently). It was a chaotic time and a difficult situation for Catholics. However, within 100 years the president of the United States was Catholic, as were many members of Congress and the Supreme Court. Indeed, in every presidential election in recent decades at least one of the candidates for president or vice-president has been Catholic. Has the Vatican taken over American policy? No, not by any means!
Surveys of lawmakers in recent years have shown that the most important factor in how they vote on issues is their political affiliation. Religious moral teaching has some influence on their decision making but not as much as politics. This is most obvious among Democratic lawmakers when the issue of abortion comes up. A Catholic legislator may say that “I’m personally opposed to abortion but I’m not going to impose my religious beliefs on others.” On the Republican side of the aisle this is apparent when Catholic legislators are doing their best to gut social programs, forgetting that most of the New Testament deals with the “social Gospel” and compassion for one’s neighbor.
In a recent talk with Catholic lawmakers, Pope Francis urged them to keep Catholic moral teaching in mind when they debate issues and eventually vote on them. This is sound advice. Gone are the days when the Pope, or even a bishop, could say this is Catholic teaching, you must follow it! The role of the clergy, even the Pope, isn’t to tell people what to do but to help them form their conscience. A person’s moral decision making is an internal process, where a person must wrestle with a difficult moral issue and decide on how he or she will respond. This wrestling is like the wrestling match between Jacob and God in the desert as Jacob is on his way to confront his brother, Esau, and ask for forgiveness.
Human beings are made in the image and likeness of God. Traditionally, this has been understood to imply that humans can make moral decisions. They have the freedom necessary for true moral decision making, as well as the reasoning ability necessary to sort through their options. Of course, this means that they also have responsibility for the consequences of their freely made decisions.
While we are usually familiar with our personal responsibility for the moral decisions we make in daily life, often we think of those in public office as being governed by political pressures. The Pope reminds us that we are no less responsible for the policy decisions we make as legislators and government leaders, as well as the consequences that flow from these policy decisions. Indeed, even as voters we share in the moral burden and consequences that arises from the decisions we make in the voting booth. Political decisions are often moral decisions. The Pope reminds us that we must not separate the two in our minds. The same considerations that we apply to our personal moral decision making, should be applied to our political and policy decision making as well.