[Father Skloo - zah - check]

This weekend, after all our Masses, there is an opportunity to register to vote. Tables will be set up in St. Paul Plaza. If you are a Minnesota resident, and not yet registered, you can fill out a simple form, which we will take care of mailing in for you. You will then be able to vote in the Tuesday, November 7, elections. 
Voting, and participating in the political process, is part of our rights and duties as citizens of our nation.  Our country, from its beginnings, has fought hard to obtain and maintain our democratic form of government.   So, as Americans, we value this right as an important way to have a voice in our government and in the laws that we enact.
But voting is not just a civil right and duty; it is also a religious duty. As Christians, we are called to make our voices heard in the public square. We are called to participate in the political process and make our voices heard so that the rights of all people will be safeguarded. 
The Church does not take a position on which political party, candidate, or even the form of government that is best. But the Church does call upon her members to judge political parties, candidates, and forms of government according to biblical teaching. Divine revelation does have something to say about the standards by which we choose candidates for public office. 

We are called to choose our elected officials according to the standards set forth in the Bible and Church teaching. Usually, no candidate or political party perfectly espouses the values we hold as Christians and as Catholics, and we must choose the one that comes closest. 

Recent teachings of the Pope and our U.S. Bishops have emphasized that we are prayerfully to discern which candidates will best uphold the common good.

The common good is defined in the Vatican II
Constitution, Gaudium et Spes, as:

"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 Catechism of the Catholic Church, in reference numbers 1905 and following, elucidates how we are to promote the common good in our day to day lives. 
Clearly, some issues are more important than others. In his encyclical, The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II taught that the right to life is the most basic of all human rights, and must take priority over other issues.
But certainly, defending the right to life for all human beings, from conception till natural death, does not excuse us from working for the common good in other areas as well. We must put aside our own selfish desires when voting, and seek to do what is best for the common good. 
As we approach the November 7 elections, let us pray for one another, that we will all be guided by the Holy Spirit as we choose those who will serve us in public office. Let us also pray for the candidates, and those who will be elected, that they will be guided by a sincere desire to serve the common good.