Catholic Teaching and Voting

Catholic Social Teaching and Voting: Where’s the Paragraph on Term Limits?

So, how do we decide something as technical as term limits by applying Catholic social teaching?

Our teaching focuses on broad truths and principles – the sacredness of life, the dignity of the person, the common good, etc. You will find nothing about term limits, two-thirds voting thresholds, or what products or services to tax, for instance.

What you will find is teaching on participation in the community, religious freedom, subsidiarity, the value of civil society and other major topics.   As voters we are called to use our prudential judgment based on a well-formed conscience -- to determine how those principles are applied in any given instance.

“Conscience is not something that allows us to justify doing whatever we want,” says Faithful Citizenship, “nor is it a mere ‘feeling’ about what we should or should not do. Rather, conscience is the voice of God resounding in the human heart, revealing the truth to us and calling us to do what is good while shunning what is evil. Conscience always requires serious attempts to make sound moral judgments based on the truths of our faith. (17)”