St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Tampa shared a reflection from Deacon Greg Lambert on being an American and a Catholic. 

"When John Fitzgerald Kennedy was asked if his Catholic beliefs would interfere in the discharging of his presidential duties if he were to be elected, he responded with this now-famous quote: 'I am not the Catholic candidate for president,'" Lambert said in the church's Oct. 18 bulletin. "I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me." 

While there is a separation between church and state, there will also always be a tension for those who are religious and are trying to have their faith inform their decisions. 

Jesus told the Pharisees to give to God that which is God's and to Caesar what was Caesar's.

"Determining what belongs to God and what belongs to 'Caesar' can be challenging in certain situations but can be achieved through prayer, deliberation and reliance on Divine Providence," Lambert said in the bulletin. "Paying taxes on our hard-earned income is a burden in and of itself and becomes more oppressive when spent to fund concerns to which our beliefs are opposed."

Indeed, the challenge of finding the next leader of the country has more to do with sorting through challenging social situations that it does choosing a leader with experience, especially when the task is approached as a Catholic. 

"The political landscape has become something akin to the Wild West, with a lot of unsettled lands to be plowed," Lambert said. "The fastest gunfighters of the past have been replaced by those most adept at slinging commentary across the landscape of social media."

Because of the challenges that face us, we must pray to discern and weigh our responsibilities as Catholics and as Americans, he concluded.