Over the past few months, I’ve participated in several events on the topics of religious freedom and faithful citizenship. Repeatedly, I’ve been asked what Catholics can do to promote conversations about voting in line with one’s professed Catholic faith. There’s a general sense out there that the laity can’t say or do much unless an effort is spearheaded by a pastor or a bishop. This is just another face of clericalism, but more on that another time.

It’s true that there are no specific action items from the USCCB or many individual bishops right now. That doesn’t mean that the laity can’t or shouldn’t get involved with local efforts, even within the parishes. And it’s certainly not right for us to sit back and wait for “someone else,” whether a cleric or not, to organize something.

Here are some quick ideas:

1. Voter Registration. This should be done earlier than now, but there’s still time to register voters in some states. So long as you pastor agrees, this can be done at your parish. The Knights of Columbus have organized this in some parishes. Priests For Life also has some good resources for this. Statistically, people who attend religious services overwhelmingly vote pro-life, pro-family; sadly, many of these church goers are still unregistered to vote. [Update – You can also register to vote at CatholicVote.org. And they have a feature where you can consult a public database to see if your friends and family are registered. In other words, you don’t even need a bunch of voter registration forms. Just set up your laptop or tablet (with a wi-fi connection of some sort), and you’re set to go. You could even register yourself or someone from a smart phone!]
2. Ask your pastor if the one-pager from the USCCB, “Current Threats To Religious Liberty,” can be used as a bulletin insert during the month of October. Better yet, see if he’s willing to preach on it or volunteer to organize several lay people who would read it at the end of Mass during the announcements. This is the same flyer from the Fortnight for Freedom, but it has been updated even though the top still reads “Summer 2012.” If your parish is cash strapped, offer to pay for the printing costs.
3. Organize a discussion group at your parish or elsewhere in your community, even an informal potluck with friends, to discuss the upcoming elections and the importance of voting. Many states have critical issues on their local ballots. The redefinition of marriage is on the ballot in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington.
4. Pray. I’ve seen a lot of informal prayer campaigns starting up around the country. Find one of those to participate in or start your own. Many parishes are organizing a day of Adoration and prayer for November 6. You can help to bring this about in your parish if it’s not already happening.

Catholic teaching is clear that we have an obligation to vote. (CCC 2240) I’ll be writing more about this obligation and the role of conscience in the next few days.

It’s important that we do everything we can to vote ourselves and to motivate others to vote as well. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments section. By no means are the above suggestions the only viable ones.

Fortnight For Freedom starts today! We’re beginning two weeks of prayer and events to create greater awareness about the current threats to religious freedom here in the United States.

As part of a national effort to educate, the USCCB announced this morning a text campaign to create a network so that people of goodwill can stay informed on the latest news and projects concerning efforts to promote and defend our religious freedom.

Here’s how it works: Send a text to 377377 with either the word “freedom” or “libertad,” depending on whether you want your updates in English or Spanish. You’ll get an automatic response asking for your email and zip code. Then you’ll be connected to a network in solidarity with the bishops that will notify you to pray, learn and act on specific items.

I’m honored to be the opening speaker today at the Festival For Freedom, near Rochester, NY.

And I’ll try to post regularly on the Reflections offered by the USCCB. The reflections are available in English and Spanish. [My comments will be in English, maybe with a smattering of Italian.]

Today’s Reflection, from the Declaration on Religious Liberty (Dignitatis Humanae), n. 3, Dec. 7, 1965:

Further light is shed on the subject if one considers that the highest norm of human life is the divine law-eternal, objective and universal-whereby God orders, directs and governs the entire universe and all the ways of the human community by a plan conceived in wisdom and love. Man has been made by God to participate in this law, with the result that, under the gentle disposition of divine Providence, he can come to perceive ever more fully the truth that is unchanging. Wherefore every man has the duty, and therefore the right, to seek the truth in matters religious in order that he may with prudence form for himself right and true judgments of conscience, under use of all suitable means.

Truth, however, is to be sought after in a manner proper to the dignity of the human person and his social nature. The inquiry is to be free, carried on with the aid of teaching or instruction, communication and dialogue, in the course of which men explain to one another the truth they have discovered, or think they have discovered, in order thus to assist one another in the quest for truth. Moreover, as the truth is discovered, it is by a personal assent that men are to adhere to it.

Much could be said about these two paragraphs. Indeed, much has been said. But I’ll offer a couple of quick take away points in hopes that they’ll be of use.

1. Life should make sense. There’s an order to everything. When we experience angst it’s usually because we know, at least on some level, that things are off kilter, that things are not as they should be. Every one of us — even those of us who claim to be the live-and-let-live type — has a sense within us of what should or should not be done. That’s evidence of the natural law written in our hearts, the law that allows us to participate with God. Like God, we are able to evaluate and judge things. Unlike God, we don’t always get it right. But it’s the very fact of being created in his image that makes it possible to take in nature and to see the order that should exist in it. That’s why varied cultures share similar values even when they don’t share religious beliefs. We share a participation in the natural law/order.
2. In order to seek the truth, people should be free to do it. If they are coerced to believe something, then they don’t really believe it. They accept it because they have to, but it’s not part of their core belief. The Catholic Church has not always been the best example of honoring this fundamental right as John Paul II acknowledged in his apologies for the failings of the Church in the past. Yet, it’s the Catholic Church that has been a voice for the freedom of religion of those of other beliefs, particularly in the past hundred years.
3. To know the truth, it must be taught and experienced. It’s a somewhat receptive process. We don’t determine truth for ourselves. We witness it in others, in study, in religious beliefs. We take that into ourselves and, in essence, decide that we want to be part of it because it resonates with our very being. It’s a personal process but that doesn’t mean that we come to it on our own or that we shouldn’t be involved in providing education so that we, with others, can come to know greater truth. It’s a personal work, not done alone.