The Minnesota Catholic Conference, speaking for the state’s bishops, recently released a statement calling on Catholics to do their duty as citizens by participating in the upcoming midterm elections in November, and to educate themselves on where the candidates stand.

"Catholics are called to be faithful citizens and to infuse public life with the values necessary to protect human dignity, combat injustice, and promote the common good,” the statement, posted on the conference’s website, said. “Because of this duty, it is necessary that we, your pastors, reflect with you on the state of our public life and the choices Minnesotans face as we go to the polls in a year in which all state legislative and executive officers are up for election.”

The statement discussed proper relationships and abortion as the preeminent issues on the ballot. It also touched on Catholic teachings about political life and legislative choices that Catholics living in Minnesota can be more involved in.

With respect to "right relationships,” the bishops called the pursuit of justice a "cornerstone political value" that, according to Catholic social doctrine, is essentially giving to each what he or she is due. Justice requires people working with one another to form good relationships.

In the statement, the bishops listed and defined the types of justice: Commutative justice, which requires justice in commercial exchange; distributive justice, which requires, among other things, that each person and family have access to the material resources they need not just to survive, but also to flourish; economic justice, which means building an economic order on right relationships that foster both distributive and commutative justice; and social justice, which requires creating those conditions for all social actors, including schools, faith communities, and the government, to fulfill their social responsibilities.

When society fails to form right relationships to establish justice, the state must step in to prudently repair the wrong; the statement said. That is why choosing the better political leaders is important.

Elected leaders need to be wise and virtuous, the bishops said. Voters should take into account how such elected leaders will work toward the different forms of justice along with other social issues, such as education, public safety, tax policy, migration, stewardship of the planet and health care.

The bishops designated the fight against life as the preeminent issue today, calling it "prenatal justice.” Expand upon that, they noted it must not be limited to an "anti-abortion" view but must be "establishing right relationships between the mother and the unborn child in her womb, between society and the unborn child, and between society and the mother and father of the unborn child.”

While the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court ruling was a win for the pro-life community, the issue of abortion returns to the states, where voters have the chance to elect leaders who will protect human life.

The bishops cited Pope Francis' words, which said, "We cannot stay silent when nearly a million unborn lives are being cast aside in our country year after year."

In Minnesota, despite scientific inquiry that has determined life begins at conception, an unborn baby can be aborted up until birth. The bishops cited a statistic that in 2021 there were 222 abortions involving babies older than 20 weeks.

Young girls can also get an abortion without parental consent in Minnesota. Pro-abortion elected leaders are actively working to shut down crisis pregnancy centers.

The bishops argued that society must have a right relationship with the unborn, and this relationship deserves justice.

"Abortion is not about bodily autonomy and freedom, but about the life of another human being for whom the father and mother are responsible," the statement said.

Supporting mothers and fathers means economic justice for those who are struggling, the bishops said. This can be done by funding "nutritional supports for expectant mothers; adequate healthcare coverage during and after pregnancy for both mother and child; childcare assistance; housing supports; early learning assistance programs; and parenting education.”

The bishops also argued that the state must value the family as the "foundational building block" of society.

"We encourage Catholics and other advocates for human life to step proactively into the political debate both winsomely and charitably, and to use creatively all peaceable levers of political power to prudently, and incrementally, transform our cities and our state into places that respect the human rights of the unborn by welcoming them in life and protecting them by law,” they said in the statement.