Gratitude for Faithful Citizenship videos
(Editor’s Note: The following letter is addressed to Iowa’s bishops.)
“From day to day it becomes more and more evident how needful it is that the principles of Christian wisdom should ever be borne in mind, and that the life, the morals, and the institutions of nations should be wholly conformed to them.” — Leo XIII, Sapientiae Christianae (On Christians as Citizens), 1890
Your Excellencies,
Thank you for the recent Faithful Citizenship videos and for the clarity and charity with which you have begun this statewide conversation. The tone you have set — placing discipleship before ideology and conscience before party — deserves real gratitude.
If helpful for future messaging, I offer a brief reflection.
Faithful Citizenship has always meant more than political alignment. As Leo XIII reminded us, “the life, the morals, and the institutions of nations should be wholly conformed” to the enduring principles of Christian wisdom. That is the heart of civic responsibility: not merely participating in politics but allowing the Gospel to shape the way we engage our neighbors and our society.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once observed that a nation of dependent citizens is not the nation we set out to be. His point was not ideological but moral: authentic freedom — political, economic, and spiritual — requires responsibility, ownership, and virtue. Faithful Citizenship invites Catholics to rediscover this deeper understanding of freedom, one rooted in human dignity rather than in partisan narratives.
Your recent videos echo this tradition beautifully. By encouraging Catholics to listen before responding, to form conscience before voting, and to place Christ before pressure, you are helping restore a civic vocabulary that has been lost in our polarized age.
Thank you for continuing to lead with wisdom drawn from the Church’s long tradition. It is a gift to Iowa.
With respect and gratitude,
Guy C. Stevenson
Bettendorf
Marriage and spiritual self-giving
The sacrament of marriage offers a husband and wife the gift of God’s grace to live as one flesh. Each spouse is called to love sacrificially, and totally give oneself to the other. God has created intimacy and sexual union within marriage to be both unifying and open to new human life.
In our modern society the use of contraception is at odds with the Catholic Church’s teaching on sexual intimacy and marriage. My wife and I have been married for over 41 years. We have struggled with being open to life. The fruits of the Church’s wisdom have blessed us with five children.
From my personal experience, using contraception prevents spouses from giving oneself totally to the other. It short-circuits marital love, and replaces sacrificial love with selfish love. This selfish love erodes the total self-giving, and the focus becomes one based on the superficial and purely pleasurable aspects of intimacy, rather than the reflection of God’s infinite love toward the other.
I’ve also found that my relationship with God can also fall victim to a type of spiritual contraception. We want the comfort and intimacy of God’s presence in our lives, but without the cross. We keep Jesus at a distance until we are struggling or find life burdensome. Instead of totally surrendering to God, we approach God on an as needed basis.
Let us not deny God anything in our lives, and unite all our efforts with his amazing grace. Let us be crucified with Christ, and allow him to live totally within us and through us in our world. Let us be totally open to Jesus, and allow him to be born anew in us and through us.
Mike Gannon
Milford, Iowa
