Denver, Colo., Aug 2, 2008 / 12:28 pm
The Colorado Catholic Conference (CCC) has launched its Get Out the Vote campaign in which it uses a web site and DVDs to examine and promote “faithful citizenship,” the correct formation of conscience, and voting participation among Catholics.
Featuring reflections from all the bishops of Colorado, its web site also contains information about voter registration, bulletin announcements and inserts, testimonials from Colorado Catholics, homily notes, and live streaming of the campaign’s DVD presentation.
“We hope that Catholics around the state will recognize the moral and civic duty they have as Catholics and citizens to vote and to do so with a properly formed conscience,” a statement from the campaign said.
“If we as Catholics want to effect change in our society and culture we must vote and encourage our friends and family to do the same.”
Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput is joined on the DVD by Bishop of Colorado Springs Richard J. Sheridan and Bishop of Pueblo Arthur N. Tafoya.
“The Catholic Church certainly understands and also believes in the separation of church and state,” Archbishop Chaput says on the DVD, “but that doesn’t mean we believe in the separation of faith and politics.
“Faith is what drives the thinking of Catholics—of Christians—in terms of their relationship with God and also in terms of their relationship with their neighbor,” he explains. “Because of that our political relationships, which are about our relationship with our neighbor, are informed by our faith. So serious Catholics, whether politicians or ordinary voters, have an obligation, actually, to make sure that faith informs their political decisions and their actions.”
“We Catholics are not one issue voters, but neither do we Catholics believe that every issue is of the same moral weight or value,” says Bishop Sheridan. “All of the many issues and rights about which we are so rightfully concerned are grounded in that fundamental right, which our Declaration of Independence calls ‘unalienable,’ and that is the right to life.”