With the Feb 5 primary election in Illinois rapidly approaching, Henry Histic of St. Scholastica Parish in Woodridge said he will vote for the candidates who most correspond with his convictions and values. Party affiliation is \u201cthe least of my concerns,\u201d he told the Catholic Explorer.<\/p>\n
Histic and his wife, Marilyn, attended \u201cCalled to Faithful Citizenship\u201d Jan. 24 at their suburban faith community.<\/p>\n
Histic mentioned he and his wife have followed the debates and primaries. They have noticed the candidates have many different positions on the issues. \u201cThere is quite a bit to choose from,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Making a choice will be \u201cdifficult\u201d for him, Histic admitted. \u201cThere are so many issues and they are all important,\u201d he said. Before the beginning of the formal discussion, the parishioner mentioned he came to the parish event to learn more about \u201cwhere the church stands\u201d on voting for public officials.<\/p>\n
Deacon Roger Schmith of St. Scholastica Parish led the program. The 67-year-old clergyman holds a master\u2019s degree in religious studies from then-Mundelein College in Mundelein as well as certificates from the Joliet Diocese in liturgy and social justice. He works as the parish\u2019s social justice coordinator.<\/p>\n
At the start of his presentation, Deacon Schmith stressed he would not be mentioning or advocating for any particular party or candidate during his talk. \u201cI\u2019m going to be talking about the role of Catholics in the political arena,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Catholic voters should base their decisions on the way they feel candidates respond to issues associated with respecting human life and human dignity, said Deacon Schmith.<\/p>\n
Throughout his presentation, the deacon referenced the U.S. bishops\u2019 statement titled \u201cForming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.\u201d The document, which was issued Nov. 14, 2007, includes rationale for the notion that Catholics are morally obliged to participate in the political process. It also delves into applying church teachings to public policy agendas.<\/p>\n
In the text of the statement, the church leaders have highlighted issues involving life, peace and justice, health care, housing, immigration and more.<\/p>\n
A faithful citizen is called to protect others through participating in the political process, said Deacon Schmith. The goal is helping make one\u2019s community \u201ca better place,\u201d he said. Advocating on behalf of others by making telephone calls, writing letters or countless other initiatives is also part of faithful citizenship. \u201cDon\u2019t ever be afraid\u201d to take action when it comes to challenging injustices, he said.<\/p>\n
Commenting further on the bishops\u2019 document, Deacon Schmith said church leaders are charged with the responsibility of helping believers address social and political questions. They are expected to offer the spiritual tools and guidance to assist the faithful in developing a well-formed conscience, he said.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Catholics should possess a sense of prudence. This means they realize \u201cthere is more than one way to get to the end result,\u201d said the speaker. It means \u201ckilling one to save thousands is still wrong,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Catholics are also called to do good and avoid evil and to make moral choices, he said. Catholics must weigh each of these concepts and come to a conclusion. \u201cWe cannot, as Catholics, be one-issue voters,\u201d stressed Deacon Schmith. He added forming one\u2019s conscious \u201cis no easy task.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Explorer, Deacon Schmith said Catholic voters should \u201clook at every candidate and find out what they stand for.\u201d They should vote for the person who they think will make the best overall impact on the country and the world, added the deacon, who worked for 15 years in various capacities for the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the public policy arm of the Catholic bishops in Illinois.<\/p>\n
The Lord has given human beings the gift of free will, said the deacon, who was ordained in 1983. \u201cWe cannot trust someone to make the decision for us,\u201d Deacon Schmith emphasized. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to express our own voice.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A deacon has performed a valuable service for his parish community, offering a workshop in Faithful Citizenship for those who will be voting in the Super Tuesday primary. This, from the Catholic Explorer in Illinois: With the Feb 5 primary election in Illinois rapidly approaching, Henry Histic of St. Scholastica Parish in Woodridge said he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-politicians"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}