Praying for the 2026 Elections
Next Tuesday, November 3, 2026, is our U.S. election day. Early voting has already started.
We see political ads. We hear political rhetoric. We can struggle to find candidates that we want to vote for. (If you do not know who is running for office in your area, many boards of elections put the ballots or a list of the candidates on their websites.)
We are not alone. The news tells us of difficult elections that go on in other countries. There have been countries this year where long-standing political regimes are ended.
When you decide who to vote for, is it an earthly decision solely based on politics or is your faith part of your decision-making process? Is prayer part of your decision of who/what to vote for?
I believe in the separation of church and state. It is not for the Church to tell us who to vote for. However, our faith must be part of our decision. What do I mean by this?
I am concerned with values and morals. Are our values and morals determined by worldly ideas or is our faith part of our values? Jesus says, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). Does a hunger and thirst for righteousness as God sees it guide your vote or is your vote based on which political party you belong to?
As I think about voting, I could write new articles on voting. I do not feel called to write new articles this year. Instead, I will point you to some of the articles I have written in the past like, “Being Political or a Matter of Faith.”
Before listing more of my own articles, you can find resources from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on their “Faith Before Politics webpage.” The New York State Catholic Conference also offers some resources on its “Faithful Citizenship” webpage.
As you discern your vote, I encourage you to think what it means to say the United States of America is great. You might take a look at an article, “Are the United States Beautiful?”, that I wrote last year for the Fourth of July.
Another article I wrote last year that expresses some of my own sentiments is, “I Weep as the World Rejoices.”
We pray for positive election results. Unfortunately, we do not always get them. This was the case in 2024, when the New York State initiative to make abortion part of the state constitution went against Church teaching, I wrote “Where Do We Go from Here?”. At times, we lose the battle but we need not lose hope for nothing is impossible for God.
Please let God be part of who you wrote for.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff
I am concerned with values and morals in elections too and this concern is influenced by Catholic thinking. I was pleasantly surprised to read that Pope Leo has become the first Pope in history to vote in a United States general election. He voted by a mail-in ballot. I would be surprised if anyone questions the legitimacy of his vote. However, we live in a difficult political election period where there is a lot of false comments being made about various candidates running for office by various people with their own agendas. As American citizens we need to sort through some of this noise and understand our own American history better.