By Barb Arland-Fye,
Editorial
A candidate in a competitive race in Iowa for this year’s midterm elections recently promoted preservation of individual liberty, one of the “unalienable Rights” that the founding fathers declared in our Declaration of Independence 250 years ago. Coincidentally, the Iowa Catholic Conference (ICC) recently released a two-page flyer on “Faithful Citizenship” that declares, among other things, “Our choice of how to vote in every instance must follow our best understanding of what is good for all…”
The ICC, the official public policy voice of Iowa’s Catholic bishops, released the flyer in English, Spanish and French as part of the bishops’ social media campaign to inspire Catholics to engage in the political process in a thoughtful, respectful manner. In brief videos on the ICC’s Facebook, YouTube and Instagram accounts, the bishops emphasize that our Catholic faith guides us in our approach to the midterm elections and in our interactions with others of differing political viewpoints.
The flyer (iowacatholicconference.org) offers a succinct overview of our role in politics and a helpful list of questions to ask candidates. It is a launching point for the expansive teaching of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on our role as faithful citizens and what we, as the one body of Christ, are called to do. The bishops remind us in “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” that we have an obligation to “participate in shaping the moral character of society” (Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.pdf). Both the shorter ICC flyer and the longer USCCB document should be on everyone’s reading list now and beyond the Nov. 3 elections.
Faithful Citizenship “reflects the perennial role of the Church in public life in proclaiming timeless principles: the infinite worth and dignity of every human life, the common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity,” the bishops state in their introductory note to the document. What does that look like as we live out our faith and as we prepare to vote for the people we hope will represent the common good in Iowa and in Congress?
Let these principles of Catholic social teaching guide us:
Dignity of the Human Person
Every person is created in the image of God. “We place the sacred dignity of each person at the center of our public life, working to protect the lives and good of all people, never separating our love for God from our love for our neighbor,” the bishops say in “Faithful Citizenship.”
Subsidiarity
“Full human development takes place in relationship with others.” While “larger institutions in society should not overwhelm or interfere with smaller or local institutions,” the bishops say, larger institutions have essential responsibilities when the more local institutions cannot adequately protect human dignity, meet human needs, and advance the common good.”
The Common Good
This principle emphasizes the right to life as a fundamental human right that makes all other rights possible. We have the right to “access those things required for human decency — food and shelter, education and employment, health care and housing, freedom of religion and family life,” the bishops say. We also have duties and responsibilities to one another, to our families and to the larger society.
Solidarity
In solidarity, “We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be,” the bishops say. “Loving our neighbor has global dimensions and requires us to eradicate racism and address the extreme poverty and disease plaguing so much of the world.” We are to “welcome the stranger among us — including immigrants seeking work — by ensuring that they have opportunities for a safe home, education for their children, and a decent life for their families and by ending the practice of separating families through deportation.”
As we approach the midterm elections, let’s keep in mind legislative concerns the ICC identified in 2026, which remain relevant. Ask the candidates to share their opinions on issues such as:
- Protecting the human rights of all immigrants, including due process, anti-trafficking efforts and assistance for the resettlement of refugees.
- Public policies that assist parents in exercising their rights as the primary educators of their children.
- Initiatives that would make health care more readily available and affordable to all Iowans, including immigrants and their children, and shortening waiting lists and gaps in services for those with disabilities or in need of dental care.
- Enhancing support for mothers, babies and families in need.
- Limiting the harm of abortion to the greatest extent possible in Iowa law.
- Measures to promote healthy families such as increasing the state’s minimum wage, increasing the availability of affordable housing and addressing food insecurity.
- Assisting persons re-entering the community from incarceration.
- Maintaining a progressive tax code and revenues sufficient to meet the basic needs of the poor and vulnerable.
- Strengthening Iowa’s small towns and rural communities.
- Measures to preserve, protect, and improve the quality of the air, water, and land.
In a talk he gave Sept. 9 at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV said, “For all the emphasis on individual freedom, people today frequently feel less free to be their genuine selves or follow their highest ideals, out of a hidden fear of being judged or of not fitting in.” The better emphasis: “By embracing our communion as children of God in Christ, we take part in the Church’s mystery of communion and act as a sign of leaven and unity in our world” (Vatican News, Sept. 9, 2026). That is a vote for the common good.
Barb Arland-Fye, editor emeritus
The Catholic Messenger
