Legislative Decisions Guided by Moral Truth, not by Public Sentiment

This past Saturday, I met with members of my parish Men’s Fraternity Group to participate in the dedication and blessing of three crosses that were mounted on a hilltop overlooking the Long Valley area in Jackson County. It was a cold, wintry, but sunny afternoon. Before retreating from the windchill back to the Handcock residence for further discussion on how our Lenten journey was shaping up, the group hung up the sign written in Greek “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” above the cross located in the center, that was commissioned to dedicate the occasion and in keeping with our Lenten practice of prayer, alms giving, and fasting.

Members of Badland Catholic Parish Men's Fraternal Group with Fr. Jonathan Dillon (February 21, 2026)

I share this experience to make clear that, as a practicing Catholic, my faith will guide my decision-making if I am elected as your state senator. I will not cast votes based on shifting public sentiment or by “putting my finger to the wind.”

Our country was founded upon Judeo-Christian values, and South Dakota’s state motto—“Under God, the people rule”—reflects that foundation. Our Founding Fathers recognized that our rights are God-given, rooted in His divine order and love for all His beloved sons and daughters.

As a Catholic, I have a responsibility to be morally coherent—grounded in a conscience that is one and indivisible. As Church teaching explains, “My faith does not allow me to maintain two coexisting parallel lives: the so-called ‘spiritual life,’ with its values and demands; and, on the other, the so-called ‘secular’ life—that is, life in the family, at work, in social responsibilities, in the responsibilities of public life, and in culture” (1).

My faith teaches me that every activity, every situation, and every specific responsibility—especially service to society and participation in public life—are occasions ordained by Providence for a “continuous exercise of faith, hope, and charity.”

Moreover, the Church teaches that the lay faithful are called to exercise “their proper task of infusing the temporal order with Christian values, while respecting the nature and rightful autonomy of that order, and cooperating with other citizens according to their particular competence and responsibility. The consequence of this fundamental teaching of the Second Vatican Council is that the lay faithful are never to relinquish their participation in the public square of economics, social, legislative, administrative, or cultural areas, which are intended to organically and institutionally promote the common good. This responsibility includes the promotion and defense of goods such as public order and peace, freedom and equality, respect for human life and the environment, justice, and solidarity" (2).

The Long Valley, South Dakota, "Three Crosses" completed project (Photo courtesy of John Handcock, August 29, 2025)

Finally, the Church teaches that “political freedom is not – and cannot be – based upon the relativistic idea that all conceptions of the human person’s good have the same value and truth, but rather, on the fact that politics are concerned with very concrete realizations of the true human and social good in given historical, geographic, economic, technological and cultural contexts. From the specificity of the task at hand and the variety of circumstances, a plurality of morally acceptable policies and solutions arises. It is not the Church’s task to set forth specific political solutions – and even less to propose a single solution as the acceptable one – to temporal questions that God has left to the free and responsible judgment of each person. It is, however, the Church’s right and duty to provide a moral judgment on temporal matters when this is required by faith or the moral law” (3).

Church teaching affirms that Christians are called to uphold “the moral law, which concerns the integral good of the human person; therefore, politics must refer to principles of absolute value precisely because these are at the service of the dignity of the human person and of true human progress” (4).

In summary, when faced with moral decisions grounded in truth, I will seek counsel and thoughtful input; however, I will also take those decisions to prayer—asking God for the wisdom (see James 1:5) to act in ways that uphold the dignity of the human person and serve the common good, never my own interests or those of a select few.

Source:

(1), (2), (3), and (4) Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life

Long Valley, South Dakota "Three Crosses" (August 29, 2025)