2024 - A “Super Election” Year
““Elections are an essential moment in the life of any country, since they allow all citizens responsibly to choose their leaders.”
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An Invitation
More than 2 billion people across 60+ countries will or have already voted in national elections in 2024, the largest global election year in history, during a time of increased polarization, misinformation, armed conflict, and climate crisis.
We invite you to join us in prayer and intention through a six-month process which calls us to make peace a reality by becoming agents of reconciliation and transformation during this election year. Pray the election prayer daily and join in our weekly intentions.
Daily Election Prayer
God of peace, these times demand a change of heart: to be, think, and act differently.
Pour out your Spirit on your people as we prepare to vote in 2024 in unprecedented numbers across the globe.
May we strive to make peace a reality by becoming agents of reconciliation, transforming and transcending polarization, misinformation, and division during this election year.
Help us to recognize the reality of our interconnection and interdependence and to make decisions for the common good. Amen.
Weekly Election Intentions
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“Our spiritual lives require deep re-examination and transformation; our outward actions must confront privilege and power in ourselves and in society.”
-To Be Who We Say We Are, Acts of the 23rd Congregation Chapter
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“To secure this divine peace and procure its blessings for [others] in the midst of the sin, turmoil, and restless anxiety of this modern world is the object of your institute.” - Bishop Edward Gilpin Bagshawe, First Profession of Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, 1884
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Note: UK General Election is July 4
“Democracy requires participation and involvement on the part of all; consequently, it demands hard work and patience. It is complex, whereas authoritarianism is peremptory and populism’s easy answers appear attractive.” -Pope Francis, Athens, December 4, 2021
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“We value the mutuality that empowers people to share in decisions that affect their lives, and we work in a collaborative way to achieve this.” (Constitution 26)
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“Force was no longer to be the rule, except, indeed, the force of love.” – M.F. Cusack, The Book of the Blessed Ones, 1874
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“Each meaningful economic decision made in one part of the world has repercussions everywhere else; consequently, no government can act without regard for shared responsibility.” -Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
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"The nations are involved in misery, their countries are desolated, their families are ruined, their blood is poured forth on every side. And why? Because the teachings of the All-merciful are condemned, are neglected, are forgotten, and men who have boasted of their advancement in science are at fault, are unable to maintain the common rights of man, because they have not cared to learn the sublime lessons of political economy taught them by the Creator and Savior of the world."
~MF Cusack, Book of the Blessed Ones, 1874
“Yet we find ourselves at a place we’ve never been, at the edge of tomorrow, the dawn of our reCreation. These new times demand a change of heart: to be, think, and act differently. Our spiritual lives require deep re-examination and transformation; our outward actions must confront privilege and power in ourselves and society … It is time to live our words. We embrace these promptings of the Sprit with courage, humility, hope and trust.”
Resources
CSJP Resources
UK Resources
Preparing for the Election—Vocation for Justice, Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology Team
The Summer 2024 edition of 'Vocation for Justice' is filled with thought-provoking content as the UK moves towards a General Election.UK General Election 2024: A guide for Catholic Voters, CAFOD
CAFOD and SVP are inviting Catholics to reach out to their local candidates to strengthen community participation and practice the culture of encounter that Pope Francis talks about. This website includes supporter briefings on international aid, human rights, climate change, debt cancellation, food systems, inequality, cost of living, and migration.General Election Website, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
Resources to help Christians in the UK prepare for the UK General Election. Includes resources from Operation Noah and Let’s End Poverty.General Election 2024, Pax Christi England and Wales
Briefing note produced in collaboration with the Network of Christian Peace Organisations to produce a briefing note.:
US Resources
Equally Sacred Multi-Issue Checklist, NETWORK Lobby
Pope Francis makes it clear: Catholics and all people of good will are called to be multi-issue voters, not single-issue voters, in the 2024 elections and in our continued participation in public life. This resource can support you in educating yourself as a faithful voter on the issues and concerns that are “equally sacred.”
Vote 411, League of Women Voters
Provides reliable, nonpartisan information in both English and Spanish, including candidates guides, voter registration and verification, details
about your unique ballot, and how to vote in your state.
Civilize It—A Better Kind of Politics, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
A response to Pope Francis’ invitation to model a “better kind of politics.” See the Civilize it pledge on the next page.
General Resources
Overcome Division Video, by Stand Together
8 minute video with 5 simple steps from Irshad Manji.Transforming Grace, Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Invites participants to take responsibility for the personal and collective responses we can make in the challenges we will encounter during the election period. Each liturgical season, participants receive a weekly or monthly one-page reflection guide designed to be used in groups such as leadership teams, justice committees, employee groups, and gatherings of sisters and partners in mission. Each reflection tool is designed for a 60-75 minute session.