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Single-issue politicking by labeling one issue “preeminent” in this year’s US election has been criticised by San Diego’s Bishop Robert McElroy.
Speaking at the University of San Diego this week he said such labeling “distorts the call to authentic discipleship in voting rather than advancing it.”
Abortion and the environment are “core life issues in Catholic teaching,” he said.
“The death toll from abortion is more immediate …but the long-term death toll from unchecked climate change is larger and threatens the very future of humanity.
“There is no mandate in universal Catholic social teaching that gives a categorical priority to either of these issues as uniquely determinative of the common good.”
McElroy said even if either of these issues were the current preeminent question in Catholic social teaching in the US, partisans will hijack them.
They will suggest “Catholics have an overriding duty to vote for candidates that espouse that position,” he added.
Last November U.S. bishops approved a series of videos to augment their “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizens” document.
At the time McElroy said he was concerned about a supplementary letter to voters that told them abortion is the preeminent teaching of the church.
This would open the door to people ignoring Pope Francis’s urging that other concerns “equally sacred” should be considered.
These issues include “the lives of the poor and elderly people, human trafficking victims and others who are struggling to survive,” Francis wrote.
During his talk at the university McElroy also listed 10 issues Catholics should scrutinise.
Besides abortion and the environment, immigration and refugees, euthanasia and assisted suicide, racism, work and workers’ rights, poverty and inequality, the promotion of marriage and family, nuclear disarmament, and the protection of religious liberty are all top concerns to consider.
Catholic social teaching points toward an understanding of justice, life and peace that refuses to be categorised, McElroy said.
“At the same time, this very comprehensiveness makes the prioritization of Catholic teachings difficult for voters.”
McElro also spoke of a third compelling election issue.
He said “the culture of exclusion” has developed during the last three years, resulting in increased racial injustice and new language and symbolism that seek to advance the evil of white nationalism and create new racist structures.
This culture “seeps into all of the most salient questions of life and dignity that our society faces and corrodes each one in turn,” he said.
Many faith-filled Catholics believe the most compelling Catholic social teaching for American voters is the need to get rid of the culture of exclusion before it spreads further.
Voters must choose, McElroy said. “It is the candidate who is on the ballot, not a specific issue.
“Which candidate will be likely to best advance the common good through his office in the particular political context he will face?”
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