Catholics need to do a better job connecting their faith to the voting booth in this fall’s presidential election, a representative of the United States bishops told nearly 200 people July 2 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 508 Breckenridge Lane.

John Carr, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, spoke in the Archdiocese of Louisville last week during meetings with priests, laity and elected officials who are Catholic.

Despite a jovial demeanor and his use of humor to color the subject, Carr delivered a weighty message to Catholics.

“These are depressing times,” he told the gathering of lay people during an evening presentation July 2. The country is in “fundamental moral trouble. The signs of it are all around us. We’ve lost our way morally.

“We couldn’t even pass a bill to provide health insurance to children” in recent legislative sessions, he said. “Immigration, health care, Iraq — these are polarizing and paralyzing issues.”

The presidential election this fall “is one of the most important elections of our lifetime,” said Carr.

And it’s not only the mission but the duty of Catholics to help “enrich politics with the convictions” of life, dignity, justice and peace.

Speaking to a mixed crowd that included teachers, students, church workers and others, Carr also noted that the election isn’t about the religious beliefs of a politician or the religious clout of a particular group, such as the so-called “evangelical vote,” “the Jewish vote” or the “Catholic vote.”

It is “divisive ecclesially” for church leaders to tell the faithful how to vote, he said, noting that it’s also illegal.

But Catholics have a great resource to help guide them in these daunting times, said Carr. Catholic social teaching and the U.S. bishops’ guide to Faithful Citizenship — which is re-issued every four years — offer a framework for analyzing political questions. The U.S. bishops’ latest statements are available at www.faithfulcitizenship.org.

“The church wishes to inform consciences on political life to help stimulate greater insight,” even, he said, “if it raises conflict” within the church.

Carr quipped that he is the product of a “mixed marriage.” His parents were both politically active, he said. But his mother was a Republican committed to pro-life work and his father was a “die-hard,” “pro-life Democrat.”

Regardless of their party affiliations, Catholics have a common mission and a moral obligation to promote the common good, said Carr.

“It is not optional,” he said. “It is essential to what it means to be a Catholic.”

Carr said he heard Pope Benedict XVI deliver pointed words about this duty at the White House during the papal visit last April.

“He said, ‘The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility toward those less fortunate,’ ” said Carr.

“What does it mean” Carr wondered aloud, when abortion is legal, capital punishment is employed and homelessness, addiction, racism and other problems plague this nation? “How do we set the downtrodden free?”

“I think we’re a wounded nation,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve recovered from 9/11. No matter what you think about the war (in Iraq), no one thought it would be like this. I wish they had listened to the warnings of the Holy Father. Eighty-one percent of Americans think we’re going in the wrong direction.”

Abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty and war have created a culture of violence and of death, said Carr.

Scandals involving politicians, a lack of health care for children, the response of the government to Hurricane Katrina and U.S. policy on immigration are other signs of trouble, he said.

Carr blamed part of the problem on the country’s two main political parties that, he said, indulge in too much individualism and lack emphasis on the common good.

Republicans, he said, rely on the bottom line when it comes to economics, believing that “the market will work out problems.”

Democrats, he said, wrongly use choice as the “ultimate criteria.”

Such division often leaves voters in a political quandary. In recent years, it’s left Catholics to choose between some pro-life issues and care for the poor, Carr noted. Yet with those choices come other positions inconsistent with the faith. For instance, neither party subscribes to a consistent ethic of life.

“Life is linked directly to dignity,” Carr said. “Some people want to pull those two part. You can’t pull those apart.

“All life is sacred, but not all issues are equal,” he noted. And, he said, “Our faith cannot be reduced to one or two issues.”

He summed up the bishops’ position, noting that Catholics have a duty to “resist what is intrinsically evil” and “to do what is right.”

Catholics must resist the temptation to subscribe to “moral equivalence,” giving all issues the same weight, he said.

And the faithful must seek a well-formed conscience and use prudence to apply the principles of Catholic social teaching to “questions facing the nation.”

“Sometimes we may feel politically homeless,” said Carr. “We need more involvement, not less.

Catholic lay men and women need to become more involved.”

He encouraged Catholics to become more active in political life, to continue to worship together and to visit www.faithfulcitizenship.org. The Web site offers ideas and resources for parishes, priests, teachers and families.

Father Patrick Delahanty of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky (CCK) spoke briefly at the event and offered Kentucky Catholics one concrete way to become involved.

He urged the faithful to sign up for the conference’s legislative advocacy network. The CCK regularly sends out e-mails alerting people about important legislation. And with a couple of clicks of the mouse, the recipients can contact their legislators by e-mail.

So far, said Father Delahanty, about 1,000 people receive the alerts. For more information, visit www.ccky.org and click on the Faithful Citizen Advocate link.