Inside the Capitol

Recently, I was blessed to accompany members of Our Lady of Lourdes’ (Minneapolis) parish justice and charity commission on a visit to its sister parish in Tijuana, Mexico: a mission run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

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Catholic social teaching is not a set of policy prescriptions or an attempt to tell people how to vote. Rather, it is a mental framework through which we address challenging social problems in light of the Gospel.

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The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien is a beautiful work showing the important role even the smallest and seemingly most insignificant people have in the drama of history. In the trilogy, it is Frodo Baggins, the little hobbit, who embarks on a perilous adventure to destroy the ring of power at Mount Doom and save Middle Earth from the power of the evil Sauron.

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This session, the Catholic bishops of Minnesota advocated in favor of a policy that would allow undocumented immigrants to drive legally in Minnesota. The bishops and Minnesota Catholic Conference staff have received plenty of feedback from Catholics throughout the state, in many instances expressing their disagreement with that policy proposal.

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After five very blessed years as associate director for public policy with the Minnesota Catholic Conference, I have decided to pursue a new opportunity with Catholic Education Partners, an organization whose mission is to advance public policies that empower families and children to enjoy the benefits of a Catholic education. I firmly believe that giving more children the opportunity to receive a great Catholic education through parental choice is one of the best ways we can spread the Gospel, bring more people to Christ, and build a better and just society.

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To bring the Gospel to all men and women, not to just the wealthy or intellectuals, Christianity must be incarnated in every aspect of civilization, including politics. This requires that the Church be free to cultivate the life of prayer needed to nurture discipleship in people who can, in turn, be leaven in society.

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Not every political issue is a battle between good and evil. In fact, most are not. But more and more issues at the Capitol are being framed that way because we continue to lose a sense of the dignity of our political opponents.

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Today, people working to advance Catholic social teaching often find themselves in opposing camps, divided along party lines. But the Church’s political work is about putting back together what has been torn apart by a highly partisan culture. In his encyclical “Laudato si’,” Pope Francis proposes integral ecology as a new framework for reunifying the Church’s mission of public engagement.

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