WINDSOR TERRACE — According to one leading voice on the church’s views, Catholics should pick their conscience over their party when it comes time to vote.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pro-Life Committee, said Catholics should not leave their pro-life beliefs at home when they go to vote on Nov. 3. Abortion, religious freedom, and racism are all pro-life issues, Archbishop Naumann told Current News in an Aug. 19 interview.

While the USCCB feels “it is not the proper role of the church to tell Catholics who to vote for,” the archbishop said, Catholics should remember their principles and priorities “when they go into the voting booth.”

The fight against abortion is the pre-eminent priority, according to Archbishop Naumann, who outlined three reasons for its importance:

•  “It attacks life when it’s most vulnerable, most innocent,” the archbishop said.
•  “It happens within the family,” he said, adding that it destroys the bonds between parents and children.
•  The sheer numbers of abortions performed each year are alarming, he said. More than 65 million lives “have been lost since 1973,” the year the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade.

“Each one of these children have a mother and a father that have been scarred by the abortion experience,” Archbishop Naumann told Currents News.

He recalled a conversation he had with Pope Francis, who told him, “If we don’t have life, no other right matters.”

Religious liberty and racism should also concern Catholics, Archbishop Naumann said.

He did not mention Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris by name when he discussed religious liberty in the Currents News interview but said a statement she made while questioning whether members of the Knights of Columbus could serve as impartial judges should trouble Catholics. This was in reference to Harris’ line of questioning during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of Brian Buescher, a nominee to the federal bench. Harris questioned Buescher’s membership in the Knights of Columbus and called the group “an all-male society comprised primarily of Catholic men” who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage.

On racism, Archbishop Naumann said it is a pro-life issue because “it is an affront to God.”

For Catholics looking for guidance on voting, the USCCB issued a lengthy statement in 2019, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” a reflection on Catholic teaching and political life.

“We are a nation founded on ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ but the right to life itself is not fully protected, especially for unborn children, the terminally ill, and the elderly, the most vulnerable members of the American family,” the bishops stated. “We are an affluent society where too many live in poverty and lack health care and other necessities of life.”

The USCCB also defended its right to speak out on issues.

“Some question whether it is appropriate for the Church to play a role in political life. However, the obligation to teach the moral truths that should shape our lives, including our public lives, is central to the mission given to the church by Jesus Christ,” the bishops stated.

Two prominent religious leaders played roles in the Democratic and Republican national conventions this year.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said the opening prayer for the Republican National Convention on Aug. 24.

“As a priest, one of my most sacred obligations is to try and respond positively whenever I am invited to pray. Prayer is speaking to God, offering him praise, thanking him for his many blessings, and asking for his intercession; it is not political or partisan,” Cardinal Dolan said in a statement on Aug. 18. “Agreeing to pray does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate, party, or platform,” said the cardinal, who offered a prayer at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Father James Martin, the well-known Jesuit priest, writer, and editor-at-large of the magazine America, offered a Benediction on the final night of the DNC on Aug. 20.

“I was honored when I was asked to pray one of the benediction prayers at the convention this year,” Father Martin told Jesuits.org. “At first, I wasn’t sure if I should accept, since I think priests and religious should, in general, shy away from anything overtly political — and there was also the issue of the Democratic approach to abortion.

“But after talking with a few Jesuits, I was reminded that Cardinal Dolan had prayed at both conventions four years ago and that it was a real opportunity to pray with a great many people.”