Question: Dear Father,
By the grace of God I am a professed Third Order Carmelite. In my spiritual journey I have struggled with the issue of learning not to judge people but to pray for them. I now find myself with a summons for Jury duty. I will be submitting for a hardship as I have 2 young children who will be off from school. I am a stay at home mom and deeply believe in my state in life as a wife and mother is foremost. What does the Church teach regarding this civil "duty" There is a questionon the form as to "are we physically and mentally able to perform the duties of a juror. I'm ready to say no, this is how strongly I feel. Words of His Wisdom, Please as I must address this quickly.
Respectfully
Answer:
There comes a time in life when we are to look at what is the best for society.
As a member of society, we do have civic duties.
However, sometimes, we are not always able to meet the civic duties that others would want us to. Therefore, you have to look at this situation, and ask yourself, is this something that I just don't want to do, or something that I should not do, or something that I can't do?
There was a time, many years ago, that I was called for jury duty. It happened that I was to show up at the court house in Iowa, two days after I was to be in Seminary in Baltimore. Needless to say, in this case civic duty took the back seat, and they granted my absence.
I can't tell you what to do in this case, but if you take some time in prayer, and talk it over with family, I'm sure you will come up with the answer that is right.
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