Welcome to Election Day. Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister says the time is now for us to figure out what our values are. In NCR's editorial, we call for Catholics to be witnesses for peace in the aftermath of this tense election. Environmental activists say that the outcome of this election will have an impact on our country's role in fighting climate change.

When people stop listening: Keep it up

NCR columnist Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister continues our series of looking into what our church and our country must do in the aftermath of one of the most consequential elections in our history.

"As this era's debacle of a democracy comes groaningly to an end, I find myself feeling less and less satisfied. Relieved that it's almost over, yes. Satisfied, no," Chittister writers. "The fact is that we have not come to an end; we have come to an even more important beginning: We have questions to ask ourselves, questions to answer for the future. And one thing of which I am certain: The time for it is now. We do not dare wait until we cannot get out of what we allowed to develop in the first place."

Chittister goes on to say that our first task is to figure out the three major values that have been propelling us as a nation for the last four years. Next, we need to ask ourselves what three values we most want to characterize what we do in the future. Finally, we need to step away from the partisanship that plagues our country.

"Partisanship is the quality of taking thought away from those you presume are thinking independently about your welfare," Chittister writes. "It stops independent thinking in order to meld the group into a political power grab. It takes a long time to grow a group into a single mind ? at least as well as we have done. But partisanship can also be dismantled, too ? provided we keep an open eye on the independence of our own representatives and do a little thinking ourselves."

The rest of Chittister's essay can be found here.

More background:

• Also in our series, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, says that after living through a period of such intense division, now is the time for us to be forming consciences for faithful citizenship.
   
• Follow all of NCR's Election 2020 coverage here.

We must be witnesses to peace, justice in election's aftermath

"Elections are, by definition, fraught with tension, since they result in winners and losers. But never in our lifetimes have we faced the very real possibility ? in fact, probability ? that violence may erupt in the aftermath of Election Day, if not during it," we write in our latest editorial.

President Donald Trump has said numerous times that he will refuse to concede defeat, along with rallying his base with cries of mail-in ballot voting fraud.

Most Americans are fearful that violence will erupt in our streets tomorrow and in the days following. And that danger is a real possibility as gun sales have skyrocketed to record highs. 

"But any protests or witnesses must be nonviolent," we write. "As nonviolent activists have long taught, only love, not hate, can bring redemption and reconciliation. Violence only hurts the cause and feeds the lie that the left is the real source of tyranny."

You can read the rest of our editorial here.

More headlines

• At EarthBeat, environmental activists say that the outcome of this election will have a major impact on our country's role in the Paris Agreement, public trust in science and investment priorities for sustainable energy.
   
• Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the influential former long-time personal secretary of Pope John Paul II, is denying a priest's accusation that he covered up a case of clerical abuse in 2012.
   
• ICYMI: The Supreme Court, with a full bench, will hear oral arguments by teleconference about a Catholic social service agency that had been excluded from Philadelphia's foster care program for not accepting same-sex couples as foster parents.

Final thoughts

Join us today at 1:30 p.m. Central on Facebook Live as former NCR editor Tom Roberts talks with Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister about where we go from here.

Also, The Bernardin Center at CTU Chicago is hosting election night coverage from 7-9 p.m. Central, featuring NCR executive editor Heidi Schlumpf and Theology en la Plaza contributor Miguel H. Díaz.

Until Wednesday,

Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @ncrSLY

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