Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship

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contents
Introductory Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Part I: Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship:
The US Bishops’ Reflection on Catholic Teaching
and Political Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Why Does the Church Teach About Issues
Affecting Public Policy?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Who in the Church Should Participate in Political Life?.. . . . . . . . . . . 7
How Does the Church Help the Catholic Faithful to
Speak About Political and Social Questions?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
A Well-Formed Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Virtue of Prudence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Doing Good and Avoiding Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Making Moral Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
What Does the Church Say About Catholic Social Teaching
in the Public Square?—Four Principles of Catholic Social Teaching.. . 17
The Dignity of the Human Person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Subsidiarity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The Common Good. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Solidarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Part II: Applying Catholic Teaching to Major Issues:
A Summary of Policy Positions of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Human Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Promoting Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Marriage and Family Life.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Religious Freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Preferential Option for the Poor and Economic Justice.. . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Health Care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
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