U.S. midterm elections spark multiple Catholic voting exhortations

As U.S. midterm elections get into full swing, both the country’s Catholic bishops and outside advocacy organizations are urging voters to participate and “put their faith before politics” in exercising their civic duty.

In an Oct. 14 message , the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, said that while Americans might be feeling discouraged from voting because we live in “a time of deep political division,” such discouragement “is not a Christian virtue.”

Coakley emphasized that for citizens in a representative democracy, “participation in public life — including voting — is both a right and a responsibility.”

“I would ask all Catholics to put their faith before politics,” Coakley exhorted, as he called on the faithful to “judge candidates and elected officials by their actions, not merely their promises, and how those actions promote the common good.”

Meanwhile, the advocacy group CatholicVote on Oct. 15 issued voter guides for key races in seven states. The guides evaluate where the candidates in these races stand on abortion, religious freedom, school choice, gender ideology, judicial appointments, and immigration…