The Church is not called to tell its members how and for whom to vote, but Catholics are surely called to participate in the political process by casting their vote, if they are eligible. To that end, the Diocese of San Bernardino and its parishes will spend much of its energies in the fall campaign registering those who are eligible to vote and then following up with them to see that they actually cast their ballot.
“We tell them that this is part of our moral obligation,” says Father Guy Wilson, S.T., Pastor of Our Lady of Soledad Church in Coachella. “This is part of who we are as Catholics, especially here in the United States.”
Our Lady of Soledad conducts a voter registration drive every two years leading up to national elections. The parish began the process in May and will continue it through the summer, Fr. Wilson said.
To support voter registration drives in parishes, the Diocesan Office of Social Concerns is partnering with Inland Congregations United for Change (ICUC), a community organizing group with a decades long track record of working with Catholic parishes on matters of public policy and social justice. ICUC leaders were to train parish volunteers in each of the six vicariates of the Diocese on successive Saturdays in May and June. The training, which is available for both English and Spanish speaking voters, includes the mechanics of registering people to vote and ensuring that their registration forms are properly submitted. Perhaps more importantly, it also includes formation about Catholic teaching on voting and political participation, often referred to as “Faithful Citizenship.”
“It is not an option to stay silent when we hear so much division and confusion,” said Sister Hortensia Del Villar, SAC, Director of the Office of Social Concerns for the Diocese, who is coordinating the Faithful Citizenship effort. “We have a great responsibility to journey with our people, to be a support and a light.”
One of the chief challenges of the effort will be voter apathy in the two counties that comprise the Diocese of San Bernardino. In the national midterm election two years ago only 27 percent of registered voters in San Bernardino County cast their ballot, while 29 percent in Riverside County did. Some of this could be seen as a sign of public frustration with elected leadership, but ICUC Director Tom Dolan says the low rates also reflect disenfranchised populations that have not been encouraged, or perhaps have even been discouraged, from voting.
“The people we serve as a Church – the poor, the immigrant, the incarcerated – they don’t vote in high numbers,” said Dolan, a parishioner of St. Bernardine Parish in San Bernardino. “That has an impact on the cycle of poverty that we are called to address.”
Two other organizations have been authorized by the Diocese to assist parishes in voter registration drives. Training Occupational Development Educating Communities (TODEC) and Mi Familia Vota.
While the early push will be focused on voter registration, follow-up activities about the importance of voting and reaffirming parishioners’ commitment to vote will take place in the summer and fall, Sr. Del Villar said.
Activities planned include,
• A video message from Bishop Gerald Barnes on Faithful Citizenship
• Civic Engagement Sundays in which the subject can be approached in homilies at Mass
• A Diocesan Day of Faithful Citizenship (Oct. 16)
• Get Out The Vote outreach to parishioners who have pledged to vote
Voters who are registered at their parish will also be invited to sign a pledge card committing themselves to vote in the November 2016 election. Signing a pledge card can increase the likelihood of voting by as much as 60 percent, according to ICUC.