Election season is here, and to support you and your commitment to be a Catholic engaged in the betterment of our community, we will be doing a weekly article until November 6 on issues that are important to consider as you decide for whom you will vote. We’ll be drawing heavily from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ document, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (www.faithfulcitizenship.org), and we invite you to check out the full document and the many helpful supporting materials.
Last week, we looked at the issue of immigration. In this week’s article on forming our consciences for the upcoming election, we look at issues surrounding care for creation.
The present model of distribution supports a minority who believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized; the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption. Protecting the land, water, and air we share is a religious duty of stewardship and reflects our responsibility to born and unborn children, who are most vulnerable to environmental assault. We must seriously address global climate change, focusing on the virtue of prudence, pursuit of the common good, and the impact on the poor, particularly on vulnerable workers and the poorest nations. The United States should lead in contributing to the sustainable development of poorer nations and promoting greater justice in sharing the burden of environmental blight, neglect, and recovery. Furthermore, we must address the rising number of migrants who are uprooted from their homeland as a consequence of environmental degradation and climate change.
