Growing up as Catholic, I understood that the Church was not one to endorse candidates, but was rather, issue-based. While mainstream media portrayed the Church as ultra-conservative and seemingly detached from social realities, I knew it be otherwise. Religious leaders from Archbishop Romero, who connoted the term, "liberation theology," God's preference for the poor, to more familiar names including Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa, and the basis of my faith, Jesus, all worked tirelessly to turn the world on its head, taking the risk to challenge the status quo as a means of improving the lives of marginalized groups.

By now, I'm used to talking about my multi-layered identity. My multi-ethnic background in itself (Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese) seems to have sparked a bit of curiosity in those that I come across. In my first blog, I discussed my identity as a "Progressive Christian." As the aura surrounding the presidential elections continue to heighten, I thought I'd expand on how the latter identity comes into play during these elections...

I sat in my church pews and listened to one of the priests deliver his homily/sermon. Without endorsing any candidates, he emphasized the need for Catholics to root their vote in their faith. However, he also cautioned the congregation not to reduce their faith to simply a manner of where candidates stand in terms of abortion and the death penalty.

Too often, "pro-life" has been solely associated with absolutes: the beginning and the end. But, what happens to those already living? As I listened to my priest speak, his words reaffirmed what I understood as a Progressive Catholic. To move beyond a culture of death is a call to pay attention to social injustices including the prison-industrial complex that serves to preferentially incarcerate low-income people and men of color rather than educate them (yes, there might just be other "Barack Obamas" among us). To choose life means to ask which candidates are determined to increase access to health care, improve the quality of public education, make college accessible and affordable, create economic opportunity, engage in diplomacy, and lead efforts to protect our planet.

To be "pro-life" means more than being "anti-abortion." How about asking what we can do, as a community of human doers, to help address the circumstances that lead some of our sisters to getting an abortion in the first place (i.e. socioeconomic status, domestic violence)?