Le Provocateur

Issue date: 10/31/04 Section: News Stories

Members of the Faithful Citizenship panel

Although the separation of church and state is part of our nation's Bill of Rights, the two came together last Tuesday night in the Hagan Campus Center Hall as Campus Ministry sponsored the panel presentation The Challenge of Faithful Citizenship.

The event was planned as an attempt to make AC community members aware of the connection between the Catholic faith and politics during the 2004 Presidential Election season. It also focused on the document "The Challenge of Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility," which essentially offers the opinion of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on how Catholic citizens should vote. A summary of the Bishops' statement was given to all who attended, as well as being distributed to campus mailboxes prior to the evening.

Seniors Keith Sullivan and Karen Whelan, Campus Ministry Director Stephanie McCaffrey, Theology Professor Father Barry Bercier, and History Professor Dr. Kenneth Moynihan comprised the panel, with Father Dennis Gallagher, Vice President for Mission, serving as moderator.

Each panelist was given five minutes to speak about the link between the Christian faith and citizenship, as well as focus on how this relates to two hot-topic election issues of their choice.

"Maybe there is a danger of bringing religion into politics," Moynihan said, opening the discussion, "in drawing a line in the moral sand."

While Moynihan, who is also a political columnist for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, went on to discuss capital punishment and the challenge of choosing a candidate that supports the measure, McCaffrey focused her five minutes on faith calling her to vote with the Christian mission of helping the less-fortunate at the forefront.

"I'm called to vote with a large number of people in mind," she said. "For me, this is a humbling but vitally important role."

Working for others included, for McCaffrey, unborn children, which brought abortion for the first time of the evening.

Although McCaffrey admitted to having little separation between her role as a Catholic and as a voting citizen, Whelan held an opposite view.

"I believe that attaching a religious perspective to politics is wrong," Whelan said.

She then took on gay marriage, reminding the audience that the issue is about more than that which religion deems proper,

Continued...

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