Mexican bishops launch get-out-to-vote campaign

Mexico City, Mexico, Sep 15, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The Bishops’ Conference of Mexico has announced the launching of a campaign to encourage Mexicans to vote in the upcoming elections in 2006.

The campaign, called “Faith and Politics,” aims to raise awareness among Mexicans of the importance of participating in the democratic process “for the common good in justice and peace.”

Archbishop Sergio Obeso Rivera of Xalapa, president of the Bishops’ Committee on Social Issues, explained that the Church in Mexico cannot “tell our people which candidate or party they must vote for, but we do feel obliged to enunciate a general criteria so that each person can consider and evaluate it, leaving the ultimate decision, and I insist on this point, on who to vote for up to the individual.”

Inspired by a pastoral letter on politics published by the Mexican bishops in 2000, the Faith and Politics campaign is divided into four modules:  The response of Christians to the demands of our time: the common good; Citizen participation: the path towards building the common good; Our participation (as bishops and priests) in the electoral process: choosing on the basis of the common good; and Our participation on the basis of our commitments as citizens: deciding on the basis of the common good.

The executive secretary of the Committee on Social Issues, Father Jose Antonio Sandoval, explained that the workshops that will be part of the campaign are tools for teaching and encouraging participation in a democratic culture, beyond just the issue of getting out to vote.