Conscience and Elections 2016

Many people will have to make serious decisions about the elections and candidates. These serious decisions are about serious issues. They are serious because they are about morality in the conduct of the electoral process managed by Comelec and the candidates’ moral values, character, and plans of government.

Moral decisions are arrived at by the person’s moral conscience which is the inner power or faculty that determines what is right and what is wrong.‎ For a decision in conscience to be carried out as legitimate and therefore deserving of respect it must be one that is based on a GOOD conscience.

A good conscience is based on the word of God from the Scripture, from the authentic magisterial teachings of the‎ Church which are found in the documents of Vatican 11, Code of Canon Law and Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is the reason why many simple but good Catholics go to priests, religious and bishops for advice and guidance in order to make a good moral decision.

Catholics who seek advice and guidance from Church moral leaders should make an effort to know, internalize and knowingly appropriate the help of others so that it is their personal moral conscience that decides and accepts the consequences.

I trust that bishops, priests, religious and laity who are in the position to give good advice and proper guidance ‎ will also make an effort to know the truth about the Comelec and its plans as well as the moral character and qualifications of candidates. In the past CBCP NASSA used to have the three-day Political Education (Pol Ed) program in all dioceses run by the Diocesan Social Action Centers.

The CBCP used to issue a Pastoral Letter on the Elections. As far as I know the Bishops Conference has approved last month a pastoral letter on The Eucharist and Politics. ‎And CBCP President Archbishop Socrates Villegas has written an official letter to Comelec to restore the security features and accuracy mechanisms to the PCOS machines.