CST Dispatch #11
Checklists Don’t Save Souls
The Rabbit Hole
As I was preparing for Confirmation, my priest encouraged me to spend time learning more about the Mass, specifically the sacraments and the stages of the liturgy. I took that advice seriously. I’m the kind of person who, once inspired, will listen to podcasts, read documents, chase footnotes, and fall down theological rabbit holes until I come up gasping for spiritual air.
It was during one of those podcasts, on the Liturgy of the Rites of the Mass, that I first heard the phrase “the Four Non-Negotiables.”
I was confused. Why would a discussion about the Mass shift into what sounded like a political checklist?
So I did what any curious, ADHD-powered Catholic would do: I Googled it.
That search opened up an entire subculture in the American Church I had never truly seen before. And honestly? It shook me.
What Even Are the Four Non-Negotiables?
If you haven’t encountered them, the “Four Non-Negotiables” are a list that began circulating heavily in Catholic media in the early 2000s, especially during election seasons. They’re typically named as:
Aboration
Euthanasia
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Same-Sex Marriage
They are presented as issues so grave and intrinsically evil that no faithful Catholic could support or vote for any candidate who doesn’t oppose them outright. In some parishes, this list gets promoted like a second Gospel. In others, it’s practically become a parallel magisterium.
I kept digging, and the deeper I went, the more unsettled I became.
I discovered online forums, priest podcasts, and voter guides where these four items were treated not as part of a moral framework, but as the whole thing. No mention of Catholic Social Teaching. No mention of racial justice, war, the death penalty, economic dignity, workers’ rights, or the environment. Not even a whisper of the Church’s long history of moral theology rooted in conscience and human dignity.
In one podcast, a priest actually said he devotes one homily a month to President Trump.
Not to Jesus. Not to the Eucharist.
Not to the Corporal Works of Mercy.
To Trump.
This Isn’t Why I Came to the Church
What drew me to Catholicism wasn’t culture war talking points. It was the integrated beauty of Catholic Social Teaching. It was Pope Francis speaking about tenderness and mercy. It was the Church’s deep respect for free will, something I reflected on in my last dispatch. It was the vision of a moral life that upholds both truth and human dignity in every issue, not just the ones that serve a political narrative.
I didn’t come home to the Church for a list.
I came home for the Gospel.
Catholicism Is Not a Checklist
Yes, some acts are always wrong. The Church teaches that abortion, racism, torture, and other offenses against life are intrinsically evil. But that’s not an invitation to reduce moral discernment to four talking points.
“A well-formed conscience… does not permit one to vote for a candidate who favors a policy promoting an intrinsically evil act if the voter’s intent is to support that position.”
— Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, USCCB
But it goes on:
“There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons.” (§35)
It’s not black and white. It requires prayer, prudence, and pastoral care, not pressure or public shaming. Conscience is not optional in Catholic moral life. And neither is humility.
The Risk of Replacing the Gospel with a Brand
The "Four Non-Negotiables" approach has morphed from a set of serious concerns into a Catholic brand, a badge of tribal belonging more than a starting point for deep discernment. And when parishes or priests prioritize that framework over the full teaching of the Church, they risk doing something dangerous:
They start forming ideological Catholics, not Eucharistic Catholics.
When one priest gives 12 homilies a year focused on Donald Trump, and none on the Beatitudes, something is profoundly disordered. Christ did not say “Blessed are the well-aligned with your political base.” He said:
“Blessed are the merciful…
Blessed are the peacemakers…
Blessed are the poor in spirit.” — Matthew 5:3–10
So What Do We Do?
We keep reading.
We keep praying.
We keep holding the door open for anyone who thinks Catholicism is just another political machine.
And we remind ourselves, and each other, that Catholic teaching is wide, deep, rich, and rooted in the person of Jesus Christ.
Checklists don’t save souls.
The Eucharist does.
Reflection + Call to Action
This week, ask yourself:
Is my conscience shaped more by my faith or by my political fears?
Do I think in categories of conversion or just categories of control?
Am I open to the full teaching of the Church, even when it challenges me?
If you've heard the Four Non-Negotiables preached as if they’re the whole moral story, read Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
Pray with the Beatitudes.
Study the life of St. Óscar Romero or Dorothy Day.
Ask your priest about Catholic Social Teaching and see where it leads.
And if someone asks you why you're Catholic, don’t hand them a list.
Tell them about Christ.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus,
You gave us truth, but never used it to condemn.
You gave us law, but always fulfilled it with mercy.
You gave us a Church, not a checklist.
A table, not a weapon.
A Gospel, not a party platform.
Help me to think with the mind of the Church—
and to love with Your own Sacred Heart.
Form my conscience in truth,
Guide my actions in justice,
And keep me from the temptation to control what only You can change.
When I am tempted to cling to certainty instead of discernment,
Remind me that faith is trust.
And when I see others weaponizing Your name,
Give me the courage to speak of Your peace.
Amen.