USCCB President: Put Faith Before Politics This Fall
Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms, he says discouragement is no Christian virtue and entrusts the nation to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement on Oct. 14 urging American Catholics to place their faith before partisan politics ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“For citizens in a representative democracy such as our own, participation in public life—including voting—is both a right and a responsibility,” Archbishop Coakley wrote. “In a time of deep political division, the temptation is to be discouraged and to not participate in the election process. But discouragement is not a Christian virtue.”
Elected to lead the USCCB on Nov. 11, 2025, succeeding Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, Coakley has served as Archbishop of Oklahoma City since his installation on Feb. 11, 2011. Born June 3, 1955, in Norfolk, Va., he cast the Church’s role in civic life as a defense of human dignity rather than a partisan agenda.
“I would ask all Catholics to put their faith before politics,” he said. “The Church’s contribution to the public life of a nation is not a political or partisan program; rather, it reflects our commitment to the dignity of every person, who is created in the image and likeness of God.”
Deeds Over Promises
Archbishop Coakley called on the faithful to judge candidates and elected officials by their actions, not merely their promises, and by how those actions promote the common good. He urged free and fair elections without unnecessary barriers to voting or registration, and rejected “rhetoric that appeals to fear, resentment, or division.”
The statement directs Catholics to the bishops’ Faithful Citizenship document as a resource for forming conscience in public life. He concluded by entrusting the nation’s political life to the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas.
A Divided Catholic Electorate
The appeal arrives as Catholic voters register shifting political attitudes. A Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 28 through Oct. 4, 2026, among 3,917 registered voters found President Trump’s approval among all Catholics at 30 percent, down from 47 percent early in his second term. Among white Catholics, approval stood at 39 percent, down from 59 percent; among Hispanic Catholics, it was 18 percent, down from 31 percent. Overall, 42 percent of Catholics favored Democratic House candidates, compared with 39 percent who favored Republican candidates.
In that climate, Archbishop Coakley’s message returns the faithful to the dignity of every person made in God’s image, the duty to take part in public life, and the refusal to let fear or resentment set the terms of the common good.