Dear Parish Family,

In last weekend's bulletin, I shared some fundamental principles of the Church's participation in political life, and shared that we cannot bypass political conversations because they may be difficult or uncomfortable. Our Catholic Christian faith offers an invaluable contribution to our society in the social-political arena. Guided by a well-formed conscience, we need to listen and respond in truth and charity to the various voices in the political process in order to protect and promote the common good of all persons. As Pope Francis reminds us, pastors have the right to offer opinions in keeping with our faith on all matters that affect people's lives and the integral development of the human person.

With this in mind, as an Ohio citizen and as your pastor, I want to share a few of the reasons for my support of voting YES on Issue 1. I understand some parishioners or people in our community may think differently regarding Issue 1. As your pastor who loves you and wants to help you navigate living your faith in an often confusing and confused world, I want to use this as a teaching moment and use my voice in our community to thoughtfully reflect on Issue 1. I am eager to share my convictions with you with the truth and charity that underlie the core principles of our Catholic social teaching and the impact such issues will have going forward. To this end, I will organize my support of Issue 1 around the four core principles of Catholic social teaching: common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and dignity of the human person. I invite you to read more about these principles in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).

Common Good. The common good focuses on working together to improve the integral development of each human person and the wellbeing of all people in our society as a whole (see CCC 1905-1912).

• As citizens, we have the responsibility to help our governing bodies secure the common good for the flourishing of human persons in our society. Unfortunately, many well-funded, out-of-state special interest groups will come in to propose changes to the Constitutions of various states with policies that disrespect the integral development of persons and families. These groups base their proposals on false or misleading ideologies concerning human life, family life, and sexuality. Without an adequate anthropology of what it means to be human, we cannot secure the common good.
• A YES vote to Issue 1 will safeguard our State Constitution from these ideological pursuits by making special interest groups go through a more rigorous democratic process of acquiring support in ALL 88 counties and requiring a supermajority of voters (60%) to support proposed amendments to our Constitution. It should be a difficult and rigorous process for any special interest group to make changes to our governing documents.

Subsidiarity. The principle of subsidiarity focuses on seeking to fulfill the common good and resolving issues at the most local level possible, involving local stakeholders in the political process (see CCC 1833-1835)

• Ensuring ALL 88 counties are included in proposing amendments to the State Constitution means that we are bringing a representation from each and every county to the table. Moreover, we are empowering the citizens of each and every county to engage in civil discourse about important constitutional matters that affect all of our communities. 
• Currently, only 44 of the 88 counties need to support a proposed amendment to place it on the ballot, leaving the voices of the people in half of the counties out of the conversation. Far from taking power away from the people, a YES vote to Issue 1 will empower the people of ALL 88 counties to take the reins and engage in the political process.
• If Issue 1 passes, and the Ohio Constitution becomes harder to amend, citizens can still make meaningful changes to our laws by petitioning the state legislature or by conducting referendums. From the perspective of subsidiarity, these grassroots efforts of citizens can be tremendously more impactful than relying on initiatives led by ideologically-driven special interest groups with deep pockets and little concern for the people of our state.

Solidarity. Solidarity seeks unity and cohesion in society as we together seek to fulfill the common good for one another (see CCC 1939-1942).

• It is much easier to see that we are united on a proposed amendment to the Constitution if we have a supermajority of support that is greater than a 50% +1 vote. Issue 1 deeply respects the "One person, One vote" principle of democracy. It simply requires more voters to agree on what is proposed to be an important change in our Constitution. Why would we not want broader consensus among voters (60%) around important proposed changes to our Constitution?
• A YES vote to Issue 1 would give Ohio a similar process for amendments utilized by other states and by our own Federal Constitution, which requires a 2/3 supermajority of support. The Federal Constitution has only been amended 27 times since its inception. The Ohio Constitution has been amended over 170 times in a much shorter timeframe. Amendments ought to be rare to preserve the stability and structure of our governing documents.
• Keep in mind that many of the organizations opposing Issue 1 (ACLU, Planned Parenthood, NAACP, and many others) already require 2/3 support to amend their own charters. Many teacher's unions require a 75% majority to amend their bylaws. Since these organizations require anywhere from 66-75% support to amend their own governing documents, would it not be more consistent with their own internal practices to require amendments to the Ohio Constitution to follow a similar supermajority of support? If a mere 50% vote doesn’t suffice for amendments to their own bylaws and charters, why should amendments to the Ohio Constitution, which has exponentially more importance and impact on the lives of all Ohioans, not also follow suit?

Dignity of the Human Person. Catholic social teaching firmly and consistently holds that we must protect the common good by honoring the dignity of each and every human person from conception through natural death (see CCC 1929-1933)

• A YES vote to Issue 1 on August 8 will make it much more difficult for abortion lobbyists to pass the unjust and immoral proposed amendment on November's ballot which seeks nothing other than unrestricted access to abortion. If the November abortion amendment passes, the lives of countless women, children, and families will be in grave danger. 
• While we should respect each other's convictions on Issue 1, we also need to be mindful of the immediate impact Issue 1 will have for November's election. Consider that Planned Parenthood, Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights all oppose Issue 1 because they want it to be easy to change the Ohio Constitution in November's election to enshrine abortion access into law. 
• There is a lot at stake in November, and now is an opportune time to raise the bar on amending the Constitution as we prepare for one of the most important votes of our lifetime to protect women, children, and families this November.

In the end, I firmly believe that amendments to the Ohio Constitution should be rare, backed by a supermajority of voters (60%), and supported throughout ALL 88 Ohio counties. This legislation makes sense to me as good politics with strong correlations to the core principles of Catholic social teaching outlined above. While the bishops of Ohio have noted that the faithful can conscientiously vote either way on Issue 1 this August, I would encourage you to vote YES on Issue 1 for the August 8 Special Election. 

I am yours in Christ, 
Fr. Scott Goodfellow