Principles, Priorities, Politics: and Being Catholic

White House Photographer Chuck Kennedy's photo: Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.; then-President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton walk past the statue of President Lincoln. (August 28, 2013)
Chuck Kennedy’s photo: statue of Abraham Lincoln, VIPs walking past. (August 28, 2013)

Another election is looming, so I’m reviewing how being a Catholic affects how I vote.

I’ll mention what the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) calls the “Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching”, share some links, and talk about something Pope Francis said. Along with, as usual, whatever else comes to mind.


Citizenship and the Common Good

Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)'s 'Vote Here (if You Can Afford It)' political cartoon, criticizing poll tax. (1942) via The Reagan Library Education Blog, used w/o permission.
Theodor Geisel’s “Vote Here (If you can afford it)” cartoon. (1942)

I’m an American citizen, not an exempt organization as defined by IRS Section 501(c)(3);1 so I could endorse some candidate.

I could also say that all ‘real’ Catholics must support some candidate or party. I’ve run into that assertion in my social media feeds: and it’s not the Chosen Candidate of the Almighty you might expect.

I could, but I won’t.

I’m resigned to the idea that, barring some bizarre twist of events, either the Democratic or Republican candidate will be my country’s next president.

My enthusiasm for either candidate — it’s a bit like that of Mark Twain’s hypothetical readers of the Deerslayer tale:

“…10. They require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the Deerslayer tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together.…”
(“Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences” , Mark Twain (1895) via Gutenberg.org) [emphasis mine]

Love and Good Ideas

About “… hate the bad ones … all get drowned together…”: maybe I’d feel more hyped about American politics and politicians, if I wasn’t in my mid-70s, and not entirely healthy. Besides, I haven’t been on the same page as The Establishment since my teens.

But more importantly, I can’t hate people. More accurately, I shouldn’t.

I’ve talked about this before, so feel free to skip ahead to Political Venom: It’s Not New. Or get a cup of coffee, take a nap, sort your socks, whatever.

Hating my neighbor is a bad idea and I shouldn’t do it. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2302-03)

Jesus said loving my neighbor, and seeing everyone as my neighbor, is behind “the whole law and the prophets.” (Matthew 5:4344, 22:3640; Mark 12:2831; Luke 6:31, 10:2527, 2937; Catechism, 2196)

One of the reasons I take those simple and incredibly challenging ideas seriously is that I take God seriously.

Another is that I see God’s offer as a good idea.

God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (Matthew 5:445; John 1:1214, 3:17; Romans 8:1417; ; Ephesians 1:35; Peter 2:34; Catechism, 1-3, 27-30, 52, 1825, 1996)

Since I took God up on that offer, acting as if loving neighbors and seeing everyone as a neighbor makes sense. It’s often not easy, but — it’s still a good idea.

So is doing what I can to support the common good. Seems to me it’s a long time since I said what the Church means by “the common good”.

“1906 By common good is to be understood ‘the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.‘ The common good concerns the life of all. It calls for prudence from each, and even more from those who exercise the office of authority. It consists of three essential elements:

“1907 First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.’

“1908 Second, the common good requires the social well-being and development of the group itself. Development is the epitome of all social duties. Certainly, it is the proper function of authority to arbitrate, in the name of the common good, between various particular interests; but it should make accessible to each what is needed to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and culture, suitable information, the right to establish a family, and so on.

“1909 Finally, the common good requires peace, that is, the stability and security of a just order. It presupposes that authority should ensure by morally acceptable means the security of society and its members. It is the basis of the right to legitimate personal and collective defense.”
(Catechism, 1906-1909; quotes translated from “Gaudium et spes” , Second Vatican Council, Bl. Pope Paul VI (December 7, 1965)) [emphasis mine]

Oddly enough, nothing in that part of the Catechism says that everyone must agree with me about everything, and that’s another topic. Topics.

Being a Catholic Citizen

One more thing: I can be an American and a Catholic, but being an American isn’t required for being a Catholic.

The Catholic Church is καθολικός, universal: united and diverse, not tied to one era or region. I’m not forced into a particular cultural mold.

The heart of our faith, the Eucharist, our re-presentation of the Last Supper, hasn’t changed in two millennia — not the essentials. Details in how we celebrate vary, according to local culture. This is okay. (Matthew 26: 1730; Mark 14: 1226; Luke 22:7: 20; John 13:114:31; Catechism, 1145-1149, 1202-1209, 1322-1419, 1668)

And that’s yet another topic.

The point is that, although I live in a federal republic, I could live in a country with a monarchy, or any form of government, and still be a Catholic.2

We’re not told that one particular political system is the “right” one.

Provided that a local regime works for the common good, and the citizens are okay with how their country’s authorities work, Catholics can live with any system. (Catechism, 1901)

Concern for the “common good” involves balancing individual and community needs, having respect for folks, and that’s yet again another topic. (Catechism, 1905-1912)

Like it or not, part of my job as an American citizen is keeping the common good in mind when I vote.


Political Venom: It’s Not New

Uncredited cartoonist's 'The Inauguration at Richmond': a Union magazine's view of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. Harper's Weekly (March 15, 1862) via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.
Jefferson Davis, President of the CSA: as imagined in Harper’s Weekly. (March 15, 1862)

Thinking about the common good, or pretty much anything else, is easier when I filter out the verbal abuse that passes for political discourse these days.

I’d be a whole lot more upset about the behavior of my country’s authorities and their minions, if I didn’t recognize today’s mudslinging as a long-standing national tradition.

Mind you, I think it’s a tradition we could do without — but it’s part of what we’re stuck with at the moment.

Now, about that picture of a giant skeleton wearing a crown. It’s from the March 15, 1862, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The American Civil War had been in progress for just over a year when the magazine showed its readers how they should feel about the CSA’s president.

CSA: That’s Confederate States of America. They lost, the Union won, and it’s not hard to tell which side Harper’s Weekly was on. No surprises there: the magazine was published in New York City.3

Malevolent Memes of Yesteryear

Oscar Henry Harpel/Burgoo Zac's lithograph: 'A Proper Family Re-Union': (1865)
Benedict Arnold, Satan, and Jefferson Davis: as imagined by Oscar Henry Harpel & Burgoo Zac. (1865)

It’s been 159 years and a few months since my country’s civil war ended. We’re still cleaning up the mess, although we’ve been making headway. My opinion, and that’s still another topic. Or maybe not so much.

The Civil War ended on May 26, 1865, the year when O. H. Harpel and Burgoo Zac published “A Proper Family Re-Union”: that cartoon showing Benedict Arnold, Satan, and Jefferson Davis brewing “treason toddy”. Again, not hard to tell which side Harpel and Zac backed.

I don’t know whether O. H. Harpel and Burgoo Zac are two different people, or an individual’s name and a pseudonym.

I’m guessing it’s two people, since a Charles Porah, along with Burgoo Zac, gets credit for another cartoon: “Freedom’s immortal triumph! / Finale of the Jeff Davis Die-nasty”.

The Library of Congress describes “Freedom’s immortal…” as “[a] vindictive Northern fantasy on the aftermath of the Civil War”. I’m inclined to agree with that assessment.

I haven’t found out whether either or both were stand-alone lithographs, part of one or more larger collections — or something completely different.

Alfred Gale's 'Pictorial Illustration of the Cause of the Great Rebellion' and 'Pictorial Illustration of Abolitionism.' (ca. 1865) via Library of Congress, used w/o permissionUnion supporters didn’t have a monopoly on nastiness. I’ve mentioned Alfred Gale’s broadsides, and malignant virtue, before.4

“… ‘calcine its clods and set its prisoners free. There are times, Charles, when even the unimaginative decency of my brother and the malignant virtue of his wife appear to me admirable. I could hardly say more.’…”
(Lord Peter Wimsey, in “Murder Must Advertise” , Dorothy L. Sayers (1933) via Gutenberg.org)

“…counting every thing which the most malignant virtue could shrink from, I have culled eighty lines. Eighty lines out of nine thousand!…”
(“The Good Gray Poet. A Vindication” , William Douglas O’Connor (1866) via Gutenberg.org)

Finally, before getting to Prohibition, principles, and something Pope Francis said: there’s something familiar about these 19th-century cartoons and broadsides. For me, at any rate.

With their eye-catching graphics and quotable slogans, they remind me of today’s social media memes. Which, arguably, they were: in the “social media” of their day.


Principles, Priorities — and Prohibition, a Personal View

Oliver Herford's 'Demon Rum Leads to Heroin' cartoon for Life magazine. (June 26, 1919) via Wikipedia, used w/o permission
Oliver Herford’s cartoon, warning that Demon Rum leads to laudanum, opium, cocaine, …. Life magazine. (June 26, 1919)

I’ve put links to “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship”, and other resources, in the footnotes.5

It’s been one of those weeks: so I’ll summarize the “Seven Themes of Catholic social teaching”, plus a few links — and then talk about why earnest folks with good intentions worry me.

  • Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
    1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person
    2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation
    3. Rights and Responsibilities
    4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
    5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
    6. Solidarity
    7. Care for God’s Creation
  • Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship
  • And see

Remembering Prohibition: High Ideals and Speakeasies

Oscar Edward Cesare's cartoon: 'The genii of intolerance / A dangerous ally for the cause of women suffrage', from Puck. (September 25, 1915) via Library of Congress, used w/o permission.Oliver Herford’s cartoon (above) showing the dreadfully diabolical dangers of Demon Rum, and Cesare’s “The genii of intolerance / A dangerous ally for the cause of women suffrage” (right), present two views of Prohibition.

Folks pushing prohibition were, I think, sincere. They were also persistent and, at least temporarily, successful.

Wrecking my country’s alcohol industry became national policy in 1919, with the Eighteenth Amendment to our Constitution.

From 1920 to 1933, we witnessed the social and spiritual benefits of speakeasies, moonshine, and bootlegging.

The Constitution’s Twenty-first Amendment put an end to that noble and high-minded experiment. I think my country’s Prohibition binge was a stupid idea.

I’ll admit to a bias, and that’s even more topics.6

Thomas Nast's cartoon: 'The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things' in Harper's Weekly. (September 2, 1871) From The History Project at UC Davis, University of California, Davis; via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.I’m bringing Prohibition up now, because I think it’s an example of a law that was just simply reeking of high ideals and good intentions — and a cautionary tale, showing what can happen when high ideals get shoved down our throats.

Particularly high ideals aimed folks with the ‘wrong’ ancestors, and I’m wandering off-topic again.

I don’t think any of America’s subcultures has a monopoly on stupid ideas.

Now, finally, I’m getting to something Pope Francis said on his flight back to Rome, September 13, 2024: with a Catholic News Service video and an excerpt from USCCB News.


Pope Francis and Our Choices

I’d have preferred hearing the pope speak in my native language, but like I said earlier: the Church is καθολικός, universal. I’m just glad we have folks who translated what he said.

The following excerpt is longer than most that I share.

I’m including all seven paragraphs because I think they do a good job, explaining why the Church says that killing innocent people isn’t nice and we shouldn’t do it. And why treating foreigners as if they were people is a good idea.

Both US presidential candidates espouse anti-life views, pope says
Cindy Wooden, News, USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) (September 13, 2024)

“…A U.S. television reporter asked him about the choice Catholic voters face between Harris, who supports legalized abortion, and Trump, who wants to severely restrict immigration and has said he wants to deport tens of thousands of migrants.

“Both attitudes ‘are against life: the one who wants to throw out the migrants and the one who kills children,’ the pope said. ‘Both are against life.’

“In the Old Testament, he said, God’s people are repeatedly reminded to care for ‘widows, orphans and the stranger,’ that is, the migrant. They are the three that the People of Israel must protect. The one who does not care for migrants is lacking; it is a sin.’

“And ‘to have an abortion is to kill a human being. Whether or not you like the word, it is killing,’ the pope said. ‘The Catholic Church does not allow abortion because it is killing. It is assassination. And we must be clear about that.’

“Pope Francis was asked if there were situations when a Catholic could vote for a candidate who was in favor of abortion.

‘In political morality, generally, they say not voting is wrong; one must vote, and one must choose the lesser evil’ in accordance with one’s conscience, he said.

Abortion and care for migrants are both issues the U.S. bishops urge Catholics to consider when voting. In their document, ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,’ however, they say, ‘The threat of abortion remains our pre-eminent priority because it directly attacks our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters and destroys more than a million lives per year in our country alone.’…”
[emphasis mine]

I suspect that some criticism of Pope Francis is rooted in his habit of expressing ideas simply and directly. That, and repeating what the Church has been saying for millennia.

This unseemly lack of either periphrastic prolixity or prudent prevarication leaves precious little room for weaseling out of inconvenient principles.

I don’t see a problem with thinking both that human life, all human life, matters; and that immigrants — or the other party’s candidate — aren’t existential threats.

That’s one part of Catholic belief I didn’t have trouble accepting: no great virtue, given my personal history, and that’s — you guessed it — another topic.

Recapping what I’ve said before, human life is sacred, a gift from God: every human life, each human life. It doesn’t matter how young or old, healthy or sick, someone is. A corollary is that suicide is a really bad idea, and I shouldn’t do it. (Catechism, 2258-2317)

The Church also says that “[t]he more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin”; and that immigrants are people, with rights and responsibilities. (Catechism, 2241)

Doing His Job — and Doing Mine

March 15, 1915: Billy Sunday giving another rip-roaring performance.I haven’t run into it lately, but another excuse for getting upset about what Pope Francis says involves feelings about “separation of church and state”.

The idea that church and state shouldn’t get too cozy got traction in the 17th century, and is arguably among the most extreme contrasts between today’s Western civilization and the ancient world.7 I’ll talk about that one of these days, but not this week.

Since I’m a Catholic, I think that the Church is not — and should not be — a political party, and should not meddle with political freedom. (Catechism, 2245)

I also think that part of the Church’s job is giving us a heads-up when our politicking gets out of hand. (Catechism, 2246)

“2246 It is a part of the Church’s mission ‘to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.'”
(Catechism, 2246) (quotation from Gaudium et spes, 76)

The “moral judgments” in that excerpt include, but are not limited to, zipper issues that occasionally make headlines. In this context, in my dialect, “ethics” would be a better term.

And that is why I’m not shocked, outraged, and incensed, that Pope Francis dared imply that killing innocent people isn’t a Constitutional right. And that immigrants are people.

It helps that I think attacking “our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters” isn’t nice and we shouldn’t do it.

Now, wrapping this up.

Voting matters.

Voting for a candidate who might erode our current right to kill folks who can’t defend themselves — might be preferable to voting for one who supports that right.

Not that any politico would express the idea that way: and might not even think of “abortion rights” in those terms. Euphemisms have, arguably, become so deeply ingrained — I’m going to stop now.

I would vastly prefer not having the choices we face in the looming election.

But my preferences will not change our reality.

So I’ll pray, hope: and vote.


There ARE Bright Sides

Library of Congress/Shawn Miller's photo: 'Jefferson Building stacks'. (September 29, 2022) used w/o permission
Library of Congress Main Library/Jefferson Building stacks. Shawn Miller/Library of Congress photo. (2022)

Brian H. Gill. (March 17, 2021)On the whole, I like being an American.

That’s partly because I know our history, and how it fits into humanity’s long and continuing story.

And partly because I’ve talked with folks who decided that they wanted to raise their families here: and risked what they had, to live and die in America.

Remembering that I’m the descendant of immigrants who did the same thing doesn’t hurt, either.

And, despite the vituperation, invective, and crazy notions screaming in my news feed — I’m convinced that America is more than any of my country’s political parties, and more than our government. We’re also, I think, better than all of that lot put together.

I think there are individuals who are both involved in politics and trying to make the best of a bad situation. Identifying those individuals: that’s the tricky part.

Individuals working for the common good and dealing with entrenched zealots is nothing new: and something I won’t try discussing today.

The good news is that a great many of us are not running for public office, helping someone run for public office, or on the staff of agencies set up by public officials.

And the rules we live with often let us help each other. This, I think, is a good thing.

Another good thing — brace yourself, here comes an old guy’s reminiscence.

If you’re reading this, you have access to a considerable fraction of humanity’s archives.

The End of Civilization as We Know It — As Usual

Dik Browne's 'Hagar the Horrible:' 'It may be the end of civilization as we know it.' (February 25, 1973)
Dik Browne’s “It may be the end of civilization as we know it.” (February 25, 1973) used w/o permission.

I grew up in Fargo-Moorhead, with two colleges on one side of the river, and a university on the other. With libraries in each of those places, I wasn’t exactly lacking access to knowledge and opinions.

But now, with a pretty good Internet connection and research skills developed back when card catalogs were the best thing in information access tech?

I like it. A lot.

I’ve seen the situation described as “information overload”. But I don’t see it that way.

For me, it’s more like finally having an interface with enough bandwidth.

And it’s nice, not depending on analogs of Harper’s Weekly for information and opinions. Although I can see how someone who liked the old status quo might feel threatened by a changing world.

I’ve talked about America, living with less-than-ideal situations, and making sense, before:


1 A tiny subset of the rules we live with:

2 Forms of government, being Catholic, doing our job:

3 I don’t miss “the good old days” — for good reason:

4 One of my country’s darker hours, and a current issue:

5 Resources from the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops):

6 Ideas and (my opinion) well-intended high-mindedness:

7 Big words and a good idea:

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About Brian H. Gill

I was born in 1951. I'm a husband, father and grandfather. One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run businesses and raise my granddaughter; another is a cartoonist and artist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters. I'm also a writer and artist.
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2 Responses to Principles, Priorities, Politics: and Being Catholic

  1. “I suspect that some criticism of Pope Francis is rooted in his habit of expressing ideas simply and directly. That, and repeating what the Church has been saying for millennia.

    This unseemly lack of either periphrastic prolixity or prudent prevarication leaves precious little room for weaseling out of inconvenient principles.”

    Not only do these words remind me about Jesus’ directness, I think I also see an example of Godly indirectness in them.

Thanks for taking time to comment!