Last week, our American brothers and sisters went to the polls to choose the next president of the United States. Within the coming year, Canadian Catholics will also be called to cast ballots for their party of choice in the next federal election. But which candidate should they choose?

No specific candidates or parties are endorsed by the non-partisan group Catholic Conscience (CC) (catholicconscience.org), but the organization, a registered Canadian charity, provides an impressive amount of issue analysis based on Catholic social teaching to help voters in Canada and the United States make an informed choice. 

Visitors from at least 134 countries have accessed their website and the numbers increase every time there is a major election. The site’s election guides, platform comparisons, newsletters, and materials on Catholic social teaching are used by individuals and schools for educational purposes, and to form their consciences in their own region’s elections. Not only has CC had support from Canadian dioceses, several dioceses across the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico have also provided access to CC’s materials. In addition to Catholic organizations, secular organizations and other Christian denominations have used CC’s materials.

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Quiet, humble, yet fiercely devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Matthew Marquardt heads this organization as founder and chief executive officer. With a career that includes positions in the United States Navy, engineering, law enforcement, and legal practice, Marquardt is well-positioned to look upon issues facing electors from a wide range of perspectives. A parishioner at St. Patrick’s Parish in Toronto, he started CC after launching a social justice group and taking a three-year lay leadership course at his parish. He believes that civic engagement and voting in particular should be looked at as forms of prayer. He takes pride in the fact that CC’s election guides printed in The B.C. Catholicwon national awards for Christian journalism.

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The past executive director of CC and one of its current animators, Brendan Steven, a chief writer with a Canadian charity, believes it is incumbent on lay people to acquaint themselves with Catholic social doctrine. To do so, Steven recommends they read relevant papal encyclicals, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, and pastoral letters issued by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops “which apply a Catholic social teaching lens to various issues.” 

At a minimum, he suggests that laypeople read Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, which focuses on social friendship and asks “what does it mean to seek brotherhood and sisterhood with one another in human society?” Steven particularly recommends reading the section “A Better Kind of Politics” that deals with the vocation of the politician and the role of politics in pursuing the common good. This encyclical and the compendium are freely available on the Vatican’s website (vatican.va).

Steven and Marquardt continue to work together promoting knowledge of Catholic social justice teaching through the pontifical foundation, Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice. In September, this organization partnered with the Archdiocese of Toronto to launch a fellowship program for young Catholic professionals (25 to 40 years old). Steven describes the activity of this program, called Lumen Gentium Forum (lumenforum.ca), in this way: “We’re going to be doing a deep, deep dive and reading of Catholic social teaching. As a group, we’re going to be collectively reading the core documents and encyclicals of Catholic social doctrine, going all the way back to Rerum novarum” (Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor by Pope Leo XIII).

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In advance of the upcoming Canadian election, through CC, Marquardt is hoping to provide webinars for pastors and parish administrators and help encourage Catholics to vote. He is also hoping to offer a series of related podcasts.

Marquardt says that he is currently looking for additional help in expanding Catholic Conscience’s outreach with people “who are interested in Catholic social teaching and understand the duty to participate and bring gospel values to society in a matter of fact and joyful way.” Through fundraising, he hopes to put together a staff of three to five people. He is looking for analytical people with writing skills, for example those who are political science majors, lawyers, and journalists who can help put together election guides. Extroverts are sought to do presentations for webinars and parish groups and to help with fundraising.