The 'U' stands for 'United'

Intermountain Catholic

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By the time you read this column, millions of votes will have been cast and the 2012 election will be over. As always, we will have disappointed losers and exuberant winners. However, in the long run, there will be no winners at all if we do not unite as a country and engage in honest, well-intentioned discourse aimed at promoting the common good.

This is a religious theme as well as a secular one. Jesus prayed earnestly that "…they may be one as we are one." (John 17: 11) Unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit that reflects the harmony and peace inherent in all of God’s creation, especially in his most precious creatures, his sons and daughters.

Sadly, we in our country seem to have lost our ability to work together. These past few months, the political arena has been filled with name calling, vicious attacks and vitriol. But it is not limited to political campaigning. Various levels of government throughout the country have been held captive to partisanship that brooks no disagreement and treats the other side with open disdain. Now that the election is over, it seems to me that we must work hard to let our elected officials know that we expect them to act civilly, respectfully and courteously with each other as they seek to find common ground.

For starters, our political leaders as well as the rest of us need to listen with an ear toward understanding the other’s point of view. That listening must be followed by working together, as a team, to promote the common good as best we can, recognizing that we will never agree completely on every point.

Of course, we must remain faithful to our principles, our firmly held beliefs and convictions. But we promote these principles and convictions best when we are willing to dialogue openly and respectfully, allowing the truth of our principles to speak for themselves and eventually win over our "opposition." The truth can only set us free and that freedom enables us to enter into honest dialogue and respectful debate.

Civil discourse begins with a fully formed conscience. Before jumping into the debate, we must prayerfully, thoughtfully and humbly study, and then apply, our Catholic principles to the political dilemmas of the age. We are responsible for our brothers and sisters living in poverty and must speak up when our government pursues policies that further injustice or threaten lives. Knowing when to speak up and what to say requires a firm understanding of our Catholic moral framework and prayerful discernment of how best to approach the issue based on our principles. At the end of this process, individuals may reach different conclusions. As people who recognize the dignity of all, we acknowledge the dignity of the person whose viewpoint may differ from our own.

Our country was built by courageous men and women who came together, conscious of their differences, to form a more perfect union. Unity is a gift from God that we must cherish. We have a long history of living this gift in our country whose very name indicates one of our most precious beliefs. It would be a shame to lose this most important pillar of our "American experiment." Hopefully, as the dust settles from Tuesday’s election, we will rekindle a deep desire to live up to our country’s name. The "U" stands for "United" and we are never greater as a nation than when we are truly the United States.