It's that time of year.
No, it's too early for the "most wonderful time of the year" with kids jingle-belling and people telling you to be of good cheer. Unless you're talking about the jingle of your phone ringing with political surverys...or people telling you to be of good cheer only if their candidate gets into office.
It's election season, girls! Some people despise it, some people thrive on it. And others just look forward to their shows coming back on or commercials going back to normal.
Where do you fall? And where should we fall as Catholic young women when election season comes?
Well, let's see what the Church has to say...
“...when the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls requires it, pastors have a serious duty to make moral judgments even in political matters.” -Pope Benedict XI
"This also means that in certain cases, pastors should remind all citizens of their right and duty to use their vote to promote the common good." -yep, B16 again...
"Responsible citizenship is a virtue,
and participation in political life is a moral obligation."-- Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, by the Catholic Bishops of the United States
A moral obligation? Yikes! You mean I'm obligated to watch all these nasty commercials filled with slander and twisted truths? That I can't leave the room when my co-workers (or fellow students) are heatedly debating things in Washington that don't affect me?
Eh, yes and no. You can change the channel when the commercials get out of hand--and they do indeed--but don't tune out of the bigger picture of what's going on. And those conversations at school or in the workplace? Let the Holy Spirit use you in them! Jesus calls us to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16), so as tempting as it is to merely shrug our shoulders or shake our fingers at the corruption and seemingly downward spiral of the country...a shoulder-shrug or a finger-shake won't change the culture. We must be willing to step into that same culture and speak the truth of Christ with a bold, brave, and graceful femininity.
There's a lot of talk about women in this election. So as Catholic women, we're going to take some time to talk about the election.
Stay tuned for Part II. For now, I'm tuning in to the presidential election tonight.
Popcorn, anyone?
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