As Christians approaching a crucially important set of national elections, we have a serious responsibility to be authentic Citizen Disciples: involved in the political process, working to turn the country toward greater justice and peace for all, guided in addressing the issues and candidates first of all by the values of Jesus and His vision of the human community in the Reign of God.

To help Christians take leadership in the national process of selecting new leadership and setting our national direction into the future, the Center of Concern, a national Catholic social justice center, is offering analyses of the major issues for citizen disciples, people of faith. Educational tools solidly grounding in Scripture and Catholic social thought are available to help Catholics and other Christians deepen their own analysis, make their own evaluation of the programs and candidates, and engage their local communities in these efforts.

The first set of materials in this project clarifies the notion of the common good as the context for all the major issues of the campaigns. The policy paper and educational materials argue that each of the issues "“ from immigration to jobs, from health care to global warming, from poverty to terrorism "“ is a new and more complicated problem than it was a few years ago precisely because of globalization. Solutions must be constructed to serve the common good of all the people impacted, not just U.S. citizens. Which candidate(s) understand and are responding adequately to our new reality?

All materials in the Center of Concern initiative will be posted at www.coc.org/election2008 and www.educationforjustice.org, and are available free of charge for individual or group use. Future postings in this Center initiative will be made on the 1st and 15th of each month. Topics will include immigration, international relations, jobs and outsourcing, poverty, Iraq and security, health care, and climate change. Other topics may be developed as the campaigns evolve.