Note: In further researching this piece, I discovered you CANNOT write in a candidate unless they have registered with your state and some states don’t allow write-ins at all. So the better procedure here is to research who is a write-in candidate in your state and if you find one who fits your values, write them in. This piece was also written before the latest Trump controversy regarding recordings of statements he made about women, but I think it holds even more relevance now.

In my opinion as a Catholic, we do not have a good choice for president this year. I wholeheartedly agree that as Catholics we cannot vote for Hillary Clinton and advance the abortion agenda. Life is the first and foremost issue. But I also believe it is a moral evil to vote for Donald Trump, who goes against almost every value I hold as a Christian and as a human person with dignity.

He does not respect the dignity of the person (which Pope Francis talks about so much), regularly tearing people down by their appearance, making fun of the disabled, proclaiming in news conferences how he would love to “hit” people (that’s condoning violence for no reason in my book), making bigoted statements (Miss Piggy??), not accepting refugees and exploiting people wherever he can to advance himself and his profits (not paying vendors after he went bankrupt). I know people who work for him say he is great, but that does not make up for his other morally-corrupt actions toward others.

I don’t expect anyone to be perfect, as we are all sinners, but I do expect the person I vote for to be an upstanding person and at least up front and apologetic of their faults. He is not only unapologetic; he is proud of these immoral character traits.

I know as Catholics we don’t want to see abortion advanced, and that is the reason cited by many to vote for Trump. (Though I am glad to see CatholicVote.com finally calling for Trump to step down; I hope more Catholic organizations will follow.) But the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that the “ends do not justify the means” (#1759) and I don’t think we can justify voting for Trump, a moral evil in my opinion, as our means to the end of not advancing abortion. What if we had two pro-abortion candidates? Would we have to vote one over the other then? I don’t think so. I choose to not vote for either Clinton or Trump, abiding by my Christian-formed conscience.

I propose we instead all write in a candidate, someone who is a much better representative of Christian values, and which still allows us to cast a vote and fulfill our duty as American citizens. We DON’T HAVE TO VOTE for these two immoral candidates – that is not a given; it is NOT our only choice. We can think outside the box and write someone in! Here are the write-in candidates who have registered to run for president. Note: They MUST HAVE REGISTERED or your write-in vote will NOT COUNT. Here is a list of registered write-in candidates.

God has placed these two unacceptable candidates in front of us at this time for a reason. Perhaps, it is what we deserve as Americans for letting our country stray so far from what it was founded upon. But I know I personally have to vote my conscience, as Pope Francis guided us to do so earlier this week. He said: “study the proposals well, pray and choose with your conscience.” God’s will be done – whatever it is. I know he will make good from evil, just as he did with Jesus’ death on the cross. But I cannot play a part in letting an immoral individual lead our country; I will not cast that vote as a means to an end.

I know I will catch much backlash for this, and not that I am in way in their company, but so have many saints spoken against the populace for what is right and taken a verbal whiplashing.

Let’s do things differently, American Catholics, and let’s make a stand for Christian values. Even if our voices do not ultimately win out, we will have followed our consciences and what Jesus teaches — that’s all He asks of us. As St. Teresa of Calcutta says, God does not call us to be successful, only faithful. Amen brothers and sisters!