Did you vote on November 5? If your answer is yes, congratulate yourself. Do you think your political responsibility is over for the next four years? If your answer is yes again, congratulations are certainly not in order.
Pick up any issue of The Evangelist and you'll find that your responsibility as a Catholic of voting age has just begun:
* Last week, the New York State Board of Regents voted down a proposal that would have provided poor families with an opportunity to offer their children a better education (see story, page 1).
The New York State Catholic Conference plans to approach the State Legislature with other options to ensure quality education for children. Your advocacy can safeguard that the next generation of graduates will have better schools, with more opportunities and a chance to break the vicious cycle of poverty.
* The continuing use of partial-birth abortion in this country, an issue carefully avoided by both presidential candidates during the campaign, is still a hot topic.
When he vetoed the partial-birth abortion ban, President Clinton insisted that he would pass the legislation only if it included an exception for the health of the mother -- rendering it virtually meaningless. Now that he is beginning a second term, Catholics need to raise their voices against his assent to that form of infanticide.
* In an upcoming issue, an article will outline how the recently enacted welfare reform legislation -- which achieves 44 percent of its savings through cuts in aid to legal immigrants -- could affect Catholics and others in the Albany Diocese. Again, your appeals to state government could mean the passage of laws to combat the frightening results of removing aid to poor families, children, immigrants and persons with disabilities.
If you really care about the future of your country and your Diocese, don't let your only action be pulling a lever in a voting booth. Stay informed about the issues that affect human lives around the globe; contact local politicians about your opinions -- and pray.
Christ said that prayer without action is worthless, but the opposite is also true: Your active outrage at the injustices inflicted every day on innocent victims is strengthened with the power of prayer.