By Chuck Weber
Executive Director, Kansas Catholic Conference
Former Kansas State Representative
Moments after receiving the miraculous body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist, the priest or deacon may conclude Mass with this appeal:
“Go, glorifying the Lord with your lives.”
These challenging words will sooner or later lead nearly all of us from the safety of our church pew to the intersection of Catholic teaching and public policy. This crossway is chaotic and confusing, the scene of constant collisions between faith and culture.
How much easier would it be to ignore the seemingly endless dumpster fire of politics and policy! As a practicing Catholic who once served in public office, I invite my brothers and sisters in Christ to resist the inclination to retreat and to join the battle.
Shooting the breeze about politics in the backyard over a beer with a friendly neighbor is decidedly different than being called upon to push the YEA or NAY button on specific legislation that directly impacts citizen lives.
We desperately need both conversations—neighbors talking to neighbors and good Catholics active in politics. By “good,” I mean broken sinners (like me) who nonetheless know and seek to follow Catholic teaching concerning personal life and public policy.
It’s not easy, but it can be done.
Some dismiss Catholic Social Teaching as an impediment to helpful laws and regulations. Nothing could be further from the truth. During my time in public office, I found Catholic teaching to be an invaluable roadmap, a trusted moral compass always pointing toward that worthy and timeless goal we Catholics call “the common good.”
First articulated in modern times by Pope Paul VI in his document Gaudium et Spes (“Joy and Hope”), the Holy Father describes the common good as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.”
If that sounds a bit abstract, consider the common good using a school analogy, adapted here in part from Professor Joseph E. Capizzi, executive director of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.
The best schools flourish when the student receives authentic intellectual, cultural and spiritual formation. However, certain conditions are needed to complete the picture. The school building or environment must be safe and secure. Students should be well-rested and nourished.
Motivated and respected teachers are also critical to success. Parents—the first and best teachers of their children—should invite teachers to link arms with them and support the educational mission together. These conditions (and others) cultivate an ideal learning landscape, creating “common good” conditions where individual students are in a better position to thrive and flourish.
While serving as in the Kansas State Legislature, I tried to visualize this analogy when considering legislation of every sort.
Protecting women and their preborn children from the predatory abortion industry—most especially unplanned preborn children—should be the preeminent issue for every Catholic elected official. All rights and responsibilities begin only if human life is at the center.
Tragically, the assault against human life itself is not-so-silently supported and affirmed by the secular news media. This is particularly frustrating to me as a former secular Statehouse journalist. No longer the neutral third-party umpire of the truth, far too many (actually, most) of today’s news reporters and editors shrug their collective shoulders and seamlessly adopt the attitude, advocacy and language of the abortion industry (and their ominous allies).
The abortion industry is growing in its hubristic attitude and callous view of human life. Catholics in public life should be aware of this and arm themselves with the Christ-like qualities of discipline, compassion and justice when confronting this unfolding human rights catastrophe.
The same holds true for other Catholic priority issues connected to religious freedom and the defense of the family. The LGBTQ+ lobby ruthlessly attacks the truth of human sexuality, rooted in Catholic teaching and natural law.
Nevertheless, Catholics should take comfort in and draw upon our faith not in defensive mode but as the answer to complex and controversial challenges in the public square.
Much like Colorado, the citizens of Kansas are confronting a culture in decline on multiple levels. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to engage in the political process. Despair is not a strategy. From the street-level position of a precinct chairwoman or chairman to statewide office and beyond, Catholics have the tools that can elevate our society for all people—the common good.
Do you know who is representing you at the Statehouse or City Hall? Find out. If you are not called to elected office, you may support those on the front lines with your prayers, volunteer time and financial resources.
We begin each day of the legislative session in Kansas by leading a Rosary with Catholic legislators, concluding with the Litany to St. Joseph. Daily Mass across from the Statehouse is also available. These are the spiritual tools at our fingertips and yours needed to effectively engage in politics and policy. Let us persevere!
Chuck Weber just completed his sixth year as the executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic bishops of Kansas. Prior to his current position, Chuck served three years in the Kansas Legislature as a State Representative.
Chuck and his wife of 39 years reside in Wichita, Kansas, with their special needs son Billy. They have five children and are expecting their 13th grandchild in early 2025.
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