A few weeks back, I posted on the multiplying voter guides for Catholics that are blossoming this autumn. And now CNS is wondering if they’re just leaving people scratching their heads:

If a group of Catholics were to sit down to read four or five of the “Catholic voter guides” in circulation before Election Day, it wouldn’t be surprising if they ended the session more confused than when they began.

Various Catholic organizations, religious communities, bishops individually and collectively, and even some individual Catholics have put into writing their best advice on how Catholic social teaching should guide decisions in the voting booth.

“Catholics must strive to put in place candidates, laws and political programs that are in full accord with nonnegotiable moral values,” says the California-based Catholic Answers Action, the cultural and political action arm of the apologetics and evangelization organization Catholic Answers. In its “Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics,” the group names five issues as nonnegotiable — abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning and same-sex marriage.

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, on the other hand, sees the election in much broader terms in its voter guide, called “Loving Our Neighbors in a Shrinking World.”

“Peace. Security. Racial equity. Economic well-being. A healthy environment. Human dignity. These are the basic needs of every human being and of the earth,” it says. “We encourage candidates to make explicit their commitment to the global common good.”

“In the Voting Booth: A Catholic’s Guide,” a brief brochure written by Greg Erlandson of Our Sunday Visitor, quotes liberally from “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the U.S. bishops’ 2007 document on political responsibility, providing guidance in a question-and-answer format.

“In a world of prudential judgments, it is quite possible that well-formed and educated Catholics may differ on what is the best choice to make in the voting booth,” Erlandson writes. “But we are called to draw upon the teachings of our faith in coming to our decisions, not party loyalty, self-interests or political slogans.”

Most of the guides rely heavily on quotations from “Faithful Citizenship,” which calls on Catholics to view candidates’ stands in light of Catholic teaching, giving priority attention to “the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion and euthanasia.”

Read the rest of the article for more details and insight.