Transcript: Hello! Bishop Johnston here. It’s good to be able to visit with you for a few minutes again this week. I pray that you and your families, your friends are holding up well during this challenging time. I still want to encourage all of you, if you’re able and you feel safe, to return to the celebration of Mass.
One of the other things I wanted to talk with you about this week is preparing to vote. We’re a little under two months away from a big election in the United States in early November, and I wanted to mention that I’ll be sending out to all of the registered households in the diocese, a brief letter that I’d like you to reflect upon, in order for me to assist all of you in forming your consciences for the act of voting. We don’t often think of it this way, but voting is a moral act—it involves making profound choices that affect, not only ourselves, but other people. And so in order to make a good, moral choice, we have to form our conscience as well. That’s primarily what my letter will be about, I’m also going to have a link on this video so that if you’d like to link to the letter on our diocesan website you can do that.
There’s a lot at stake, as there is in every election, but I think especially in this election there are some very stark choices we have to make, and so, I want to reflect upon some of those things and offer them to you humbly. You know, when speaking about elections and voting, it’s always a sensitive and even sometimes combustible topic. But nevertheless, I think that’s because of how much is at stake, and so as your bishop I want to be of assistance. So I humbly offer this to you to prayerfully reflect upon, so that as the election approaches, you can go into the voting booth or vote absentee, however you’re going to do it, but so that you can make your choice with peace and with great hope for the future. We Christians a role to play in our society, to take part in the public square. But certainly we have a responsibility to vote and to hand over power to those that are going to act in a way that’s good and that’ not only good for us as individuals, but for the common good of all.
So again, thank you for persevering in prayer, persevering in faith. Know of my prayers for you, and again know of my deep gratitude for your goodness and your prayers for me. May God bless you!
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Pastoral Letter: kcsjcatholic.org/pastoral-letter-preparing-to-vote