Our Call as Catholic Citizens - Part I

by Fr. Don Kline, V.F.  |  06/21/2026  |  Letter from the Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Catholics are called to participate in meaningful and active ways in the public square as citizens. This happens in a particular and meaningful way through voting. Our public life as a Catholic serves the common good of society and respects fundamental moral truths of our faith. At the same time, the Church's role is primarily to form consciences and offer moral judgment, not to replace the State or to run political power.

But what about the separation of Church and State? This phrase has been used to claim that the State should be totally neutral in practice or that the State should not recognize or protect religion at all or treat religion as something the state must suppress. However, Vatican II teaches that religious freedom includes protection from coercion. The truth is that the human person has a right to religious freedom, meaning immunity from coercion so that no one is forced to act against conscience. To that end, government must protect religious freedom through just laws and should help create favorable conditions for religious life. It is wrong for government to impose or repress religion by force or fear, or to hinder people from joining or leaving a religious community. In other words: whatever "separation" means in a country, Catholics should not understand it as a right for government to destroy or repress religion.

What about Catholics and politics? The Church has a long and heroic history of mixing faith with politics. Among the saints, the Church actually venerates many men and women who served God through their generous commitment to politics and government. For example, Saint Thomas More, who was proclaimed Patron of Statesmen and Politicians. He gave witness to the faith by his martyrdom as he sought to preserve the dignity of the human conscience. Though subjected to various forms of psychological pressure, Saint Thomas More refused to compromise, never forsaking his fidelity to legitimate authority and institutions. He taught by his life and his death that man cannot be separated from God, nor politics from morality.

The Church teaches that the Gospel is not meant to stay private. This right of the Church is a duty, because she cannot forsake this responsibility without denying herself and her fidelity to Christ: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16). Because faith has public relevance and because injustice corrupts persons and societies, the Church cannot remain indifferent to social matters. Quite the opposite. The Church has the right and duty to announce moral principles about the social order and to make judgments where required by the rights of the human person or the salvation of souls. But this does not mean the Church replaces civil government. The Church's proper function is to instruct and illuminate the consciences of the faithful, especially those involved in political life. The right and duty of Catholics and all citizens to seek the truth with sincerity and to promote and defend, by legitimate means, moral truths concerning society, justice, freedom, respect for human life and the other rights of the person.

To be continued...

God Bless.