Editor:
I have spent several years as a catechist for children, teens and adults, and currently coordinate RCIA at the Church of St. Bridget in Glassboro. If a student said to me, “We would not need charity if we first had justice,” I would stop and gently correct him. So, I was startled to read that sentiment in Father Robert J. Gregorio’s column entitled, “We enter the voting booth as moral agents” (Oct. 12).
We Catholics consider charity and justice to be virtues that operate in tandem. The successful works of one would never render the other unneeded. Conversely, government is the coercive civil authority, and renders its form of “justice” by committing a measure of injustice – or at least uncharity – somewhere else. We tolerate government because having no government would be worse, but the lesser of two evils is not a virtue. It is by charity, not government, that we best treat each other justly as fellow humans rather than as mere objects of burden or envy.
Yes, Jesus referred to heaven by using a political term, “kingdom,” and yes, “the Lord’s agenda elevated community responsibility among his disciples,” as Father Gregorio wrote. But Jesus used “kingdom” to contrast divine authority with its earthly civil counterparts, not to endorse the tactics of coercion for fulfilling the responsibilities of discipleship.
No action we take in a voting booth can replace charity. And our earthly kings – even the ones for whom we vote – will never achieve either charity or justice through force and intimidation.
Domenic Scarcella
Clayton
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