Ten salient goals that emerge from the Gospel and the long tradition of Catholic faith:
I am not a writer, I am only a Christian concerned about how to reach justice, peace and sustainability in this precious Earth that the good God created for all of us.
We, the American people, are living in a very polarized society where each group fights the ideas and plans of the other group, for the sake of winning.
Reading the words of Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium and the article of Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, I feel I must respond to the call from our Church to become responsible citizen committed to support the goals that improve the life of all the citizens of the world.
In this election year, we Catholic Christians from the United States, need to wake up and make a good discernment about who is the candidate that will be able to guide the destiny of the country.
Sometimes, it has been difficult for me stay in the sidelines of the struggle for justice without a feeling that I am not following the teachings of Jesus to fight for the more vulnerable people. But Bishop McElroy calls our attention to that, saying that we need to see all the faces of misery among us, and that we need to be very prudent at the time of voting for the best candidate.
I encourage you to read Bishop McElroy article; it confronts me with my personal conflicts and pushes me to make a good discernment about politics.
It is time to meet in what may united us beyond our perception of who is right or who is wrong. As Rumi a Persian poet of the 13th century proclaimed.
It is time to talk! It is time to forgive! It is time to show our Christian values!
I offer below some quotes from Bishop McElroy for your reflection and mine.
THANIA CESPEDES
As the 2020 election cycle begins, at least ten salient goals emerge from the Gospel and the long tradition of Catholic faith:
- The promotion of a culture and legal structures that protect the life of unborn children.
- The reversal of the climate change that threatens the future of humanity and particularly devastates the poor and the marginalized.
- Policies that safeguard the rights of immigrants and refugees in a moment of great intolerance.
- Laws that protect the aged, the ill, and the disabled from the lure and the scourge of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
- Vigorous opposition to racism in every form, both through cultural transformation and legal structures.
- The provision of work and the protection of workers’ rights across America.
- Systematic efforts to fight poverty and egregious inequalities of wealth.
- Policies that promote marriage and family, which are so essential for society.
- Substantial movement toward universal nuclear disarmament.
- The protection of religious liberty
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