I want to do a large post gathering as much breaking election n’ Catholic news as I can without taking all day to do it. So just to remind myself to do this in the morning, I’ll stick this post here with a couple of stories from today:
The Madison diocese and Bishop Morlino are under fire for taking a stand:
A watchdog group accused the Catholic Diocese of Madison on Tuesday of failing to publicly disclose its attempts to influence a Nov. 7 referendum on gay marriage and civil unions.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign asked the state Elections Board to take enforcement action against the diocese for failing to register its activities in support of a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions.
The group cited a flier prepared by the diocese and distributed outside a Catholic church in Madison.
"A YES vote upholds the Catholic teaching that marriage is a union between a man and a woman," the flier said.
Spokesman Brent King said today that the diocese has been advised by its attorneys that rules on lobbying do not apply to the church when it is communicating with its own members in a Catholic setting.
This spring, Bishop Robert Morlino and bishops from across the state decided they would take a stance on the marriage amendment.
Morlino, who participated in a forum on the death penalty at Edgewood College Thursday, went further by passing out pamphlets to all parishioners.
He said it isn’t official campaigning but rather just affirming what is in the Bible.
The bishop’s statement at the diocesan website – pdf file.
"But a law that tells me I should have recourse to the state or commission in order to teach the truth of Christ about marriage in my own churches is an obstacle to our own free expression of religion," Morlino said.
Citing conflict with Church teaching, the local Catholic Diocese has for the second time in six months rescinded an invitation—made by one of it own Catholic clergy members—to a local interfaith group to meet in one of its churches.
Father Patrick Kibby invited a group hosting a four-week discussion about the intersection of religion and politics, jointly sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance of Middle Tennessee and the Tennessee Alliance for Progress, to use facilities at the Cathedral of the Incarnation for this week’s meeting. Instead, the group—whose series is titled “Doing Justly: Integrating Our Deepest Spiritual Beliefs Into Our Professional Lives”—received word late last week that Diocesan Bishop David Choby objected to the positions of the Interfaith Alliance on abortion and same-sex marriage and that, therefore, the group would not be allowed to gather on church grounds. It will meet instead at Belmont United Methodist Church.
The Diocese doesn’t dispute that characterization of the situation and appears more than happy to sit out this citywide discussion among religious people of various backgrounds.
“We encourage people to rely on their faith as they play an active role as citizens in our society,” Diocese communications director Rick Musacchio says in a statement issued to the Scene. “However, serious confusion is likely to arise in the minds of many when political groups hold events on church grounds. We have asked the sponsors…to find another venue for their event after it became clear that one of the primary sponsors is an avowedly political group endorsing many positions that are in conflict with Catholic teaching.” When asked which sponsor the Diocese considers “avowedly political,” Musacchio cites the Interfaith Alliance, a diverse group with members of many faiths and whose local members include several Catholic priests.
Also note the sad song intoned in memory of Daniel Maguire, who was invited to speak at a Catholic parish in Nashville last spring, disinvited by the bishop, with the priest who did the inviting declaring that gosh, he had no idea Maguire was a problem.
Finally (for now…just for now. Comments will open in the AM)
From a reader:
…. the Michigan Catholic Conference came out against the anti-affirmative action ballot proposal. Now I think this is clearly an issue upon which good Catholics can disagree. In fact, I think there are probably good reasons that this ballot proposal should be shot down — some of the language seems to preclude efforts to bring more of a particular group into a field. But I cannot for the life of me understand why the Catholic Conference would take an official position. For the same reasons I don’t think it should have come out in favor of the school choice initiative 4 years ago it seems wrong to do this.
I read the document the MCC produced. It has but a few lines of any Catholic source cited. And it makes dubious claims (such as female v. male wages). It really is embarrassing to read. Where is the Catholic Social Thought? Nowhere to be found in the document. (I think there is a CST argument to be made. They don’t even make it.) It really is warmed over liberal policy. The document is here (pdf file)
Here’s a brief roundup of what various bishops and other entities are saying about Catholics and voting:
Conscience is not an excuse for doing something irrational. We are to form our consciences according to the social teaching of the Church and use that formation to make political choices. This is not easy, because principles are clear but practice often is clouded by confusion of fact and the distraction of various forms of self-interest. The first and most essential principle of Catholic social teaching is the dignity of every human person and one’s basic right to life from conception to natural death. Respect for human dignity is the basis for the fundamental right to life. This is a non-negotiable principle that is supported by our beliefs but is logically independent of our faith. Many non-Catholics think a society dedicated to the common good should protect its weakest members.
A Catholic politician who excuses his or her decision to allow the killing of the unborn and of others who can’t protect themselves because he or she doesn’t want to “impose Catholic doctrine on others” seems to me to be intellectually dishonest. The protection of every innocent human being’s right to life is a principle of reason, even though it is also a stand supported by Catholic moral teaching. Everyone understands, by way of example, that the state should protect property by forbidding stealing. This is a matter of the common good. It is not imposing Catholic morality on anybody, even though the Church teaches that stealing is a sin. Our present legal system protects stocks and bonds, as well as dogs and cats, more than it protects unborn human beings. This is contrary to the common good.
Cardinal McCarrick to the Canadian bishops (other websites have linked to news reports. This is a link to the text of the address) – it is interesting because it is a lengthy discourse on his perspective of the Catholic pol /abortion rights/Communion question.
(What’s missing, as it often is, is any acknowledgment that pro-abortion Catholic pols just might be playing the Church. Might be trying to use their Catholic identity as a political tool while taking their bucks from abortion-rights advocacy groups. The image one gets is of all of them sort of painfully trying to journey together to a point of understanding, a point at which life at all stages might be respected despite the limitations of our politically diverse society – while in reality it’s a journey to power, no matter what the cost. And of course the same can be said of most politicians on any side. It’s that failure to acknowledge the base political calculus at the root of so much of this, that essentially doesn’t give a flip about the unborn or the poor that makes the pained sincerity of "let us all work to wisdom together" a little hollow. Anyway.)
But if a politician consistently and publicly defies the church, he should be denied communion, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick told the Conference of Canadian Catholic Bishops meeting here this week.
”You have no choice in the matter. That person should not partake of communion. Sometimes you just have to do it.”
A video of Archbishop Niederauer of SF doing a Theology on Tap – it’s five minutes long.
Bishop Olmsted’s booklet, in case you’ve not yet seen it.
The Catholic bishops of Illinois (pdf)
The Denver Archdiocesan paper covers a debate between the 2 Catholic candidates for governor.
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