I don't know about you, but this election has worn me down. It is the most divisive campaign season I remember and I don't envy the man who, on November 3rd, will have to determine how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. It has torn friends, family, and Franciscans apart. Some of the American bishops have said that a Catholic who votes for a pro-choice candidate can no longer receive communion while Cardinal Ratzinger spoke for the Vatican in a memo that stated that if the Catholic doesn't vote for a candidate because he (or she) is pro-choice, the Catholic is not sinning. Both sides remain fractured, however. When I listen to the debate, I feel the same way I do when I watch a television program about the Neo-Nazi white power people. I am sickened by the bigotry, but more than that, I have caught myself tinking "how can they think that of us" before it sinks in that, oh no(!), we are of the same race. Their views are utterly foreign to me. I have listened to the Christians sniping at each other and at their fellow Americans until I feel that I have nothing in common with them, either. Whatever side of this debate you support, and whatever candidate, I know that you will vote your conscience. Let's just pray that this election will produce a clear cut winner and we can get on with the business of healing.
