Catholics in Alliance Releases Common Good Pledge

Washington DC - Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has released a pledge asking Catholic voters to encourage candidates and elected officials to address the moral scandal of poverty, help end the war in Iraq and put the common good at the top of the nation's political agenda. The pledge, which is available here, will help promote Catholic Social Teaching about poverty, war and the common good in our nation, states, and local communities.

"As people of faith our allegiance must be to uplifting the broad range of common good values at the heart of Catholic social teaching not following narrow partisan agendas," said Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

PRESS RELEASE: CATHOLICS IN ALLIANCE RELEASE COMMON GOOD VOTING PLEDGE

Washington, DC - A network of national Catholic social justice organizations released a pledge today asking Catholic voters to encourage candidates and elected officials to address the moral scandal of poverty, help end the war in Iraq and put the common good at the top of the nation's political agenda.

Vote Out Poverty,Vote Out War, Vote in the Common Good is a non-partisan pledge intended as a tool for Catholics to help promote Catholic Social Teaching about poverty, war and the common good in their states and local communities. It is sponsored by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics United, Center of Concern, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Michigan Catholics for the Common Good, NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, Pax Christi USA and Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

To view, sign or download the pledge, click here

The pledge asks Catholic voters to insist that candidates and public officials share specific plans for cutting poverty in half over the next ten years, share plans for a responsible withdrawal of troops from Iraq and to consider the fullness of Catholic Social Teaching when voting. It also encourages Catholic voters to learn more about Catholic Church initiatives aimed at cutting poverty in half www.catholiccharitiesusa.org and www.paxchristiusa.org and www.catholicsforanend.org.

"Catholics are a critical voting block aggressively courted by political campaigns, but as people of faith our allegiance must be to uplifting the broad range of common good values at the heart of Catholic social teaching not following narrow partisan agendas," said Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. "The poor and vulnerable here and around the world are disproportionately affected by war when billions in military funding take vital resources away from social spending on education, health care and poverty reduction."

The first pledges will be distributed Nov. 16-18 during a series of workshops and nonviolent protests at Ft. Benning, Ga., held in commemoration of today's 18th anniversary of the execution-style slayings of six prominent Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter in El Salvador. A U.S. congressional task force reported that those responsible were trained at the School of the Americas, renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2001. Over 15,000 people will gather at the event this weekend.

Over the next year more than 30,000 pledges will be distributed at Catholic universities, community forums and social justice gatherings in several states including Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri. The common good pledge will also be distributed at the Dec. 1 Iowa Heartland Presidential Forum in Des Moines, co-sponsored by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, the Gamaliel Foundation, the Center for Community Change and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference.

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