Global Sisters Report’s Soli Salgado interviewed Brigid Clingman, OP, about the new 2020 voting guide for an article published September 10, 2020. An excerpt from that article appears below along with a link to the full article in Global Sisters Report.

Global Sisters Report logoThe Reflective Voting Guide that 11 congregational justice and peace promoters created and circulated sought to emphasize one point above all: Discerning whom to vote for is not a one-issue matter.

We [the church] as an institution have not done good, educational evangelization on Catholic social teaching,” said Dominican Sr. Brigid Clingman, the promoter of justice for her community in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Multiple life issues — such as the environment, immigration, health care or racism — have not been held in the same regard as abortion, she added, and instead have been considered leftist priorities rather than “Gospel values. One of the hopes of our work here is that we can bridge some of those disconnects and raise some perhaps uncomfortable questions that say issues do not stand alone; issues are the web of life and integral ecology, and we have to as citizens be aware of that.”

The voting guide (hosted online by Franciscan Action Network) aims to do just that, as sisters in Indiana and Michigan — also known as Region 7 of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious — developed a document to help voters in the United States discern which political candidates best align with Catholic values.

The document was also one way that Region 7 chose to put into action LCWR’s resolution for 2019-2022, which calls for “creating communion at the intersection of climate change, migration and racism.” Congregations such as the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids had frequently held public vigils and protests to bring attention to such issues, before the coronavirus prevented such gatherings. The voting guide is an extension of their actions.

Broken down into three modules, the voting guide offers anecdotes related to each particular issue to illustrate its lived experience. It also includes excerpts and resources that demonstrate how that issue is valued within the framework of Catholic social teaching, and calls for action that prompt one to consider candidates’ positions on that subject.

Read more of the Global Sisters Report article https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/politics/social-justice/news/sisters-produce-2020-voting-guide-11-justice-and-peace-groups-urge?fbclid=IwAR2kDhIPOwy6w7-TUeY645MtycUhCkNpWK6jH7_MpzI5z7JE-nH-mcZ90VM

View 2020 Voter Guide OP Final