A Surprising Election Season: Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship

By Br. Maximilian Anderson, OSB

As our nation’s general election draws near, one of our monks explores his respect for our political process and expresses hope that it will lead to a just and equitable society.

This article was originally published in our October 2024 Kansas Monks newsletter. Read the whole newsletter at www.kansasmonks.org/newsletter/october2024.

With election season upon us, campaign signs abound in the yards of our neighborhoods and local businesses across the nation. One sign that caught my eye for its humor was: “Presidents are Temporary. Wu-Tang is Forever.” I chuckled, recognizing that while the popularity of the early 90s hip-hop group has outlasted a number of presidencies here in the USA, it certainly won’t last forever.

Reflecting more deeply on this and other jokes like it, however, has been a sobering exercise for me; this humor can be a thin veneer for a dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in our political system and this election cycle. One might say, “What’s the point in participating? Nothing seems to change for the better.” In fact, the current ideological climate takes for granted positions on issues that are contrary to the basic dignity of human life. Abortion, which is always a grave evil for it ends the life of someone innocent, defenseless, and voiceless, now seems to be taken for granted by a vast majority as a necessary part of “women’s health”. Discouraging as well is the degeneration of our political process into a contest of mudslinging and ad hominem attacks. The only goal seems to be winning votes and seats of power rather than building up the common good. These are just two woes that plague the conscientious voter, but one could go on.

Within this context I have had a few surprising experiences that have filled me with a desire to participate whole-heartedly in the election this year.

The first was reading Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship with its new introductory letter, a publication of the U.S. bishops’ conference for Catholics who want to engage faithfully with our electoral system. If you haven’t already, I commend it for your reading, even if you are already familiar with Holy Mother Church’s teaching on involvement in the civic process. I was surprised by the opening lines to the letter:

“As Catholics and Americans, we are blessed to be able to participate in our nation’s political and public life. Our freedoms respect the dignity of individuals and their consciences and allow us to come together for the common good. Election seasons, therefore, should contain a sense of gratitude and hope.”

This was a correction for me. Hope and gratitude during an election season? How is this possible?

As I read further, I remembered something that I have learned about the virtue of hope: it must be based on something present and active. What is already present and active here? Before all the rhetoric and grubbing for attention and influence through political ads, I have been given life here on this earth, in this nation, in the state of Kansas, in the town of Atchison today. And this is something that I have not given myself, but it has been given to me by Christ who has also shown me abundant mercy in calling me to my vocation, to the task of witnessing to him, that he is the one thing that makes life worth anything at all.

Here, I think there is a subtle trap that needs to be avoided, a trap similar to the humorous campaign sign referenced above: If Christ is the only thing that really matters, then the outcome of the election is immaterial, and so my participation in the process is not really necessary. I do not have to care so long as I have Jesus.

This is honestly about where I was until the first presidential debate last month. This isn’t because the presidential debate itself was surprising; it went more or less as expected. The next day, though, I had a conversation with a friend residing in America, but who is the citizen of another country. He was very excited about it because he was able to see the positive where I could not. Even though he acknowledged that the discourse could have been more civil, he said: “For me, that the debate even happened is a good thing. This would never happen in my country.”

I was struck by the great gift that we have in being able to participate in our political process at all. My friend’s enthusiasm for the good that he sees in a country that is not his own helps me to not take for granted this freedom which calls on me to respond, not with cynicism and complaining, but alive to the gift that my ability to respond is in the first place.

I am here reminded of another recent conversation with a confrere that was very helpful for me. Though we were not talking specifically about the upcoming election, his words are still pertinent. He said that he wanted to not just show up, but to bring his whole heart with him. What did he mean by this? He meant it is not enough to just float through life, going from one thing to the next, waiting for happiness and life to really begin sometime after five o’clock on Friday. He reminded me that I have a deep need to be happy now, today, and this happiness for which I long is something that is given to me, something that I cannot make happen for myself.

All of this underlines the fact that it is not really satisfying to keep part of my desire out of the equation just because there don’t seem to be many candidates who fully support and defend the dignity of human life. Rather, our participation in this election is meant to be a begging, a praying for our country, that a truly just social order be put in place. This corresponds directly to the beatitude “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).

So, let us hunger and thirst for righteousness, and tell our elected officials, whoever they may be, of the duty incumbent upon them to uphold the common good for all. And even though our nation, just like all nations (not to mention hip-hop music groups), is doomed to pass away, let us pray for, prepare for, and vote in this election knowing that we have received this gift, which demands our responsibility, from Christ who wants nothing more than to bring us all together to eternal life. 

About Br. Maximilian Mary Anderson, OSB

Br. Maximilian Mary, O.S.B. is a former FOCUS missionary (and current monk). He recently became vocations director for the Abbey.