By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International - It might surprise some Catholics to learn just how deadly seriously the Catholic Church takes the duty to vote. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, for instance, outlines three duties that Catholics have to their countries: “to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country…” (¶ 2240). These three, says the Catechism, are “morally obligatory.”