Bishop Mulvey writes letter to the diocese for voting in 2020

The following is the Letter to the people of God in the Diocese of Corpus Christi regarding voting in 2020. It was printed on Sept. 29 on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel:

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I want to provide you with a Voters’ Resource as you prepare for the November 3, 2020 General Elections. In the attached Resource, there is a brief summary of the Church’s teaching on the important moral, social and ethical issues. This is not an exhaustive list or explanation of the issues; however, I encourage you to explore these issues further in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

What is new this year is the state of our country. I would like to speak to our present situation as a prelude to our voting exercise.

Our American society is wounded by ongoing divisions in human relationships.
Although we have a common origin in God (we are all children of God and are brothers and sisters in Him), we are already divided and becoming more alienated from one another. We hold different points of view on important issues, but it appears that we cannot find a way to at least listen to one another and dialogue which is the first form of respect.

Lack of respect for one another is wrong and destructive. Every human person is created in the image and likeness of God and thus “the family of God.” Our human dignity requires us to be reconciled as sisters and brothers.

In matters of disagreement, Jesus directs, “Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court” (Matthew 5:25). Do we want to heal our families, communities and our country? Following the path of the Gospel, which is our obligation, requires us reconcile by at least listening to, talking to and hearing those with whom you disagree. It does not depend on “him”, “her” or “them”; it depends on us/me together and individually. It will take all of us to live what we profess and create a new direction for our country and world.

I encourage you to vote with an informed, Christian conscience - with the mind of Christ that St. Paul describes in the Letter to the Philippians: “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Paul is speaking of the mindset or attitude that builds unity in the community according to God’s plan.

Voting out of spite for a candidate, a political platform or merely in conformity to popular opinions on an issue is not voting with the mind of Christ. Voting is meant to contribute to the common good. Voting with the mind of Christ contributes to building the Civilization of Love called for by Jesus’ commandment and example of love for one another.
 
If each of us in our final preparations to vote would take seriously the following words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew and put ourselves in prayer before God, we will find the freedom to vote with the mind and attitude of Jesus.
 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

 

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors* do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.    (Matthew 5:43-48)

We are in a complex situation and it is not a complicated duty we have to vote this year. However, hatred and intolerance cannot prevail in a civilized society. The Gospel of Jesus lived will enlighten and shine forth in the ideal of our country, namely that “the many” (pluribius) are to become “one” (unum).  Jesus himself prayed for this as his last prayer to the Father, “may they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me (John 17:21).

Brothers and sister, we are people of hope. Every Easter, we proclaim that hope! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Our hope is not restricted to Easter. The Paschal Mystery - death and Resurrection - lives in us continuously.

The early Roman (pre-Christian) poet Virgil wrote “Amor vincit omnia, et nos cedamus amori. (Love conquers all things, so we believe in love). Love must become more evident in and among us. As people who love God and our neighbor, we witness to this hope (even as we vote).

May the Lord enrich your lives with faith, hope and love. And may our love for God and one another show that we are missionary disciples of Love.

Faithfully yours in Christ,
  
Most Reverend W. Michael Mulvey Bishop of Corpus Christi

Please see voters resource here.