Maryknoll election project

Loving our neighbor in a shrinking world

Peace. Security. Racial equity. Economic well-being. A healthy environment. Human dignity. These are basic needs of every human being and of the earth. How can our electoral decisions ensure that these fundamentals are met?

As we approach the U.S. elections in 2008, we know we will evaluate candidates by how we expect their decisions to affect our loved ones, but we are also aware of the great commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10: 27) and we are learning the global dimensions of loving our neighbor in a shrinking world.

For Catholics, the life and teachings of Jesus are at the core of moral living. In an era of great change and challenge we are called to bring the Gospel message into our relationships with all people and all creation.

These elections are an extremely important opportunity to live out what we as Catholic Christians claim to believe. By the way we vote we can promote the global common good; we can express love for our neighbors, especially those who are vulnerable and those who live in poverty; and we can demonstrate care for God's creation.

While Maryknoll is headquartered in the United States, our missioners in 40 countries witness daily the huge impact of U.S. political and economic decisions on people overseas as well as in the U.S., especially those who lack basic necessities, endure the scourge of racism, live with gender-based discrimination and feel the immediate impact of climate change.

In a recent statement on the elections, Maryknoll leadership invited "friends, supporters, benefactors, affiliates and members to work with us to make the global impact of U.S. political decisions apparent for all voters as they head to the polls."

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns will focus on the coming U.S. elections in NewsNotes during 2008. In this first issue we include sections from our voter's guide, which addresses several key areas of concern in U.S foreign policy, as well as articles on how U.S. foreign policy is likely to impactAfrica, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific and Latin America. Maryknoll's deep experience in other countries gives us perspective that we think can be helpful to voters as they evaluate various approaches to these crucial and interconnected issues.

With you we hope to challenge presidential and Congressional candidates be explicit in their commitment to the dignity of each person, to ecological integrity and to the global common good. With you we hope to make visible in the electoral process values articulated in the Gospel and Catholic social teaching -- values shared by people of every age, nationality, race and culture.

We will make every effort in the next year to provide accurate, non-partisan information that will help U.S. voters ask challenging questions of all the candidates across a wide spectrum of concerns. Materials on "Election 2008: Loving our neighbor in a shrinking world" will be available on our website www.maryknollogc.org, which will be updated regularly.

Moved by what we have seen and heard, we also strongly urge U.S. Americans to embrace and exercise the right to vote, so that this election will help the United States make a positive contribution to the better world we all believe is possible.