As Election Day in the Commonwealth of Virginia draws closer, our bishops want to remind us why we are obligated to vote and what we should consider in determining for whom we should vote.

First, as citizens of this great state, we have the right to vote which we should exercise in order to participate in the political process.

As Catholic Christians, we are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as we love ourselves. Love of neighbor includes bringing to bear the message of the Gospel and the beautiful moral and social teaching which has been faithfully handed down and preserved by Holy Mother Church. The political process is an important forum in which we are called to participate and to bring the message of the Gospel.

On, November 3rd, we will have the opportunity to vote for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General of Virginia along with the election of the entire membership of the House of Delegates.

In order to be better informed about the issues in which we should be concerned, the Virginia Catholic Conference, which serves Virginia's two bishops as advocates for issues of social justice, is providing a five part series on key issues in Virginia entitled Faithful Citizenship in Virginia: Issues for the 2009 Elections. Each of the five parts is about two pages long and covers an important issue that we should bear in mind as we determine for whom we will vote. The topics are:

• Abortion and Embryonic Stem-Cell Research
• The Death Penalty
• Marriage and Family Life
• Economic Concerns and Health Care
• Education

Please take the time to read this information and remember to vote on Tuesday, November 3rd.

Our Blessed Mother is Patroness of the United States. On this Election Day, we offer up to her our prayers for this great nation of ours.

O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, at this most critical time, we entrust the United States of America to your loving care. Most Holy Mother, we beg you to reclaim this land for the glory of your Son. Overwhelmed with the burden of the sins of our nation, we cry to you from the depths of our hearts and seek refuge in your motherly protection. Look down with mercy upon us and touch the hearts of our people. Open our minds to the great worth of human life and to the responsibilities that accompany human freedom.

Free us from the falsehoods that lead to the evil of abortion and threaten the sanctity of family life. Grant our country the wisdom to proclaim that God's law is the foundation on which this nation was founded, and that He alone is the True Source of our cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

O Merciful Mother, give us the courage to reject the culture of death and the strength to build a new Culture of Life.

From EWTN.

EWTN's Web site includes a portion devoted to A Guide to Catholic Teaching and Voting. The site includes links to many documents including Catechetical References. There are also a number of links to audio and video archives of programs related to Catholic teaching and voting which have aired on EWTN television and radio. In addition, the site includes links to other resources related to Catholic teaching and voting including books and DVDs.

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This post is from the Holy Comforter Catholic Church eNewsletter which is sent out once a week via email. If you would like to subscribe to the eNewsletter, click here.

"In the Catholic Tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation. This obligation is rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Christ and to bear Christian witness in all we do." – Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, U.S. Catholic Bishops (November 2007)

Election day is a week away. The Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC) has put together a number of resources to assist Catholics in their duty to vote with an informed conscience. These resources include:

• Pre-Election Statement
• Information on the Presidential Candidates
• Information on the Senate Candidates
• Faithful Citizenship Video

For more resources, visit the VCC Web site.

The VCC represents the mutual public-policy interests of the Diocese of Richmond and the Diocese of Arlington.

In order to prepare our hearts to vote and to ask for our Lord to be with our nation during this election, the following prayer can be offered for the nine days up to the election--October 27 - November 4.

O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord,
Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.

We thank you for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to you.

We thank you for your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law.

We thank you for the opportunity that this election year puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation,
Their response to you requires that they be politically active.

Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.

Awaken your people to a commitment to justice
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin,
And not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From Priests for Life

"Our faith requires us to oppose abortion on demand and to provide help to mothers facing challenging pregnancies," Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., said in an October 21 statement. The bishops urged Catholics to study the teaching of the Church, rather than rely on statements and materials from outside groups and individuals.

Cardinal Rigali and Bishop Murphy made the joint statement in response to arguments that the Church should accept the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision on abortion as a "permanent fixture of constitutional law" and should concede that the only way to reduce abortions is to provide more government support for pregnant women. At the same time the two bishops also responded to those who argue that the Church's efforts against abortion should focus solely on restoring recognition for unborn children's human rights and that proposals to provide social and economic support for pregnant women distract from that effort.

Cardinal Rigali chairs of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Bishop Murphy chairs the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

"Providing support for pregnant women so they choose to have their babies is a necessary but not sufficient response to abortion. Similarly, reversal of Roe is a necessary but not sufficient condition for restoring an order of justice in our society's treatment of defenseless human life," they said.

The bishops also noted that "in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision knocked down laws against abortion in all 50 states, fabricating a constitutional 'right' to abortion that continues to haunt and divide our society....Roe v. Wade is a clear case of an 'intrinsically unjust law' we are morally obliged to oppose. Reversing it is not a mere political tactic, but a moral imperative for Catholics and others who respect human life," they said.

Read the full statement here.

From USCCB Office of Media Relations

Faithful Citizenship is a Web site presented by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in order to assist U.S. Catholics in exercising their moral obligation to participate in the political life of the United States. The site provides Bishops' statements and additional information to help Catholics in forming a conscience that will enable them to fully participate in political life as a Catholic Christian. The site also includes information to assist pastors, parish leaders, teachers, and parents in their duty to teach Catholics how to apply the truths of the faith to political life.

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This post is from the Holy Comforter Catholic Church eNewsletter which is sent out once a week via email. If you would like to subscribe to the eNewsletter, click here.

Election Day in the United States is Tuesday, November 4th which is exactly two weeks away from today. Over the next two weeks, posts will be made which address Catholics and voting.

As Catholics living in the U.S., we are called to participate in the political process in order to promote the common good. In our political system in which we are governed by elected representatives who are elected by popular vote, at a minimum, we must participate by voting. Several paragraphs in the Catechism speak to this duty to be involved in politics:

2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.

2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country [Rom 13:7]:

Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. [Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners.... They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws.... So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it. [Ad Diognetum 5: 5, 10]

For more information, see the document, Participation of Catholics in Political Life, which was promulgated by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.