Appropriate for a Priest to Advocate/Oppose Congressional Bill during the Homily?

[tdgesq]

I have seen this happen recently three different times on three different bills. I agreed with the priest’s conclusions on one of them and disagreed on the other two.

On one of these bills, the priest plainly stated that Catholics should oppose it. On at least one of the others, it was clearly implied that the bill should be supported by Catholics. Are there any norms for the homily from the Holy See or the USSCB related to this?

 

[Harrison]

I do not have any documentation to give you, but I will tell you what I know. A deacon/priest/bishop cannot support or oppose a particular political party or candidate during the homily, but can support or oppose something that is non-partisan, like a congressional bill (even though said bill may only be supported by a particular political party). Catholics should be informed about the issues, and can/should take sides with regards to particular legislation and a cleric is within his boundaries in this country to talk about the issues, but not about candidates, in order to educate the faithful.

Currently the USCCB is opposing the Freedom of Choice Act, and is doing a “Postcard Campaign” and having parishes pass out post cards that are to be filled out by parishioners and sent to their congressmen. I have heard a few homilies about FOCA and none of them mentioned a political party or politician.

Hopefully this helps.

 

[FrDavid96]

I have seen this happen recently three different times on three different bills. I agreed with the priest’s conclusions on one of them and disagreed on the other two.

On one of these bills, the priest plainly stated that Catholics should oppose it. On at least one of the others, it was clearly implied that the bill should be supported by Catholics. Are there any norms for the homily from the Holy See or the USSCB related to this?

This can get tricky. A priest may only preach on the Gospel message (not necessarily the Gospel of the day, but the Good News). Sometimes that means that it’s necessary or appropriate to explain a given piece of proposed legislation in light of the Gospel, and sometimes it’s not. A priest cannot preach on legislation as such, though. For example, a priest can’t preach against FOCA as a political issue, but certainly may and should preach about the dignity of human life, and the evils of abortion; even if that means mentioning FOCA and explaining to the congregation how this proposed bill is contrary to the Gospel.

The real question to ask is this: Was the priest preaching about politics, or was he preaching about the Gospel, and a political issue happened to be a part of that homily? That’s not always an easy one to answer.

 

[PJM]

I have seen this happen recently three different times on three different bills. I agreed with the priest’s conclusions on one of them and disagreed on the other two.

On one of these bills, the priest plainly stated that Catholics should oppose it. On at least one of the others, it was clearly implied that the bill should be supported by Catholics. Are there any norms for the homily from the Holy See or the USSCB related to this?

All Clerics have a mandate (at times a grave and serious mandate) to know, teach and share our Faith.

Priest speak on behalf of our Pope and through his Bishop. If the issue that guidence in being given on in anyway touches Morals or the practice of our Catholic Faith, He must, not should, must provide the Churches position on the topic.

NOTE: These then are not political issues, NO, they are issues of Faith and or Morals.

Just as the Church cannot tell one who to vote for, BUT has every right, and a grave moral responsibility to inform you whom YOU SHOULD NOT vote for, so too, must as they are our Spiritual leaders, give proper guidence, for the safety of souls, on harmful legislation.

If you have concerns, first ask yourself, if the opinion you hold conforms to the teachings of the RCC. If not, cange it! If your beliefs do conform to church teaching, and the priest is in error. Write to your bishop.

Be brief, Be kind, be specific, and be factual.

God bless you.

 

[turtle18]

What is the context of the question? I think you asked is it appropriate. The answers you have been given seem to refer to whether it is legal or not as regulated in light of the Church’s “tax exempt” status.

I don’t know if the Vatican has any particular guidelines about whether a priest may or may not give a homily opposing certain legislation. You have to remember the Vatican is concerned with the entire Church throughout the world, not just what is happening in the United States.

The primary concern of the USCCB, on the other hand, seems to be to protect the Church’s tax exempt status in the United States, a privilege our brothers & sisters in other countries do not share. The effect of this primary concern to protect our tax exempt status is to stifle what our priests can and cannot preach on. If we truly had freedom of speech in America, our priests would be able to preach on anything they wanted.

If a priest is truly being guided by the Holy Spirit to preach out against unjust legislation, then I do not see how it could be inappropriate in the eyes of God.

 

[FrDavid96]

What is the context of the question? I think you asked is it appropriate. The answers you have been given seem to refer to whether it is legal or not as regulated in light of the Church’s “tax exempt” status.

I don’t know if the Vatican has any particular guidelines about whether a priest may or may not give a homily opposing certain legislation. You have to remember the Vatican is concerned with the entire Church throughout the world, not just what is happening in the United States.

The primary concern of the USCCB, on the other hand, seems to be to protect the Church’s tax exempt status in the United States, a privilege our brothers & sisters in other countries do not share. The effect of this primary concern to protect our tax exempt status is to stifle what our priests can and cannot preach on. If we truly had freedom of speech in America, our priests would be able to preach on anything they wanted.

If a priest is truly being guided by the Holy Spirit to preach out against unjust legislation, then I do not see how it could be inappropriate in the eyes of God.

I’m concerned you might have misunderstood my post. I wasn’t posting about IRS rules, but about the purpose of the homily, as the Church defines it. The homily is always about the Gospel message. Sometimes that message has to be put into the context of current political events; but the homily is never about politics as such, it’s about the Faith. And yes, sometimes that does mean that a priest must explain that a piece of proposed legislation is contrary to that Faith.

 

[Harrison]

What is the context of the question? I think you asked is it appropriate. The answers you have been given seem to refer to whether it is legal or not as regulated in light of the Church’s “tax exempt” status.

I don’t know if the Vatican has any particular guidelines about whether a priest may or may not give a homily opposing certain legislation. You have to remember the Vatican is concerned with the entire Church throughout the world, not just what is happening in the United States.

The primary concern of the USCCB, on the other hand, seems to be to protect the Church’s tax exempt status in the United States, a privilege our brothers & sisters in other countries do not share. The effect of this primary concern to protect our tax exempt status is to stifle what our priests can and cannot preach on. If we truly had freedom of speech in America, our priests would be able to preach on anything they wanted.

If a priest is truly being guided by the Holy Spirit to preach out against unjust legislation, then I do not see how it could be inappropriate in the eyes of God.

I was coming from the tax exempt status perspective.

 

[benedictgal]

This is the extent of what Redemptionis Sacramentum has to say regarding the homily:’

[67.] Particular care is to be taken so that the homily is firmly based upon the mysteries of salvation, expounding the mysteries of the Faith and the norms of Christian life from the biblical readings and liturgical texts throughout the course of the liturgical year and providing commentary on the texts of the Ordinary or the Proper of the Mass, or of some other rite of the Church.147 It is clear that all interpretations of Sacred Scripture are to be referred back to Christ Himself as the one upon whom the entire economy of salvation hinges, though this should be done in light of the specific context of the liturgical celebration. In the homily to be given, care is to be taken so that the light of Christ may shine upon life’s events. Even so, this is to be done so as not to obscure the true and unadulterated word of God: for instance, treating only of politics or profane subjects, or drawing upon notions derived from contemporary pseudo-religious currents as a source.148

[68.] The diocesan Bishop must diligently oversee the preaching of the homily,149 also publishing norms and distributing guidelines and auxiliary tools to the sacred ministers, and promoting meetings and other projects for this purpose so that they may have the opportunity to consider the nature of the homily more precisely and find help in its preparation.

Of course, the Church has an obligation to remind her children where She stands on faith and morals. However, her first primary duty is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course, one could tie in these issues by saying that they are contrary to the Christian message. Nonetheless, it should not overshadow the Gospel.

 

[EasterJoy]

I was coming from the tax exempt status perspective.

The USCCB comes out with official stances on various political actions having to do with faith and morals on a regular basis. Our tax exempt status does not require our leadership to be totally impotent when it comes to politics.

Stumping for a particular candidate or making blanket condemnations or approvals of all candidates of a given party, this is another matter, but declaring that some particular bill or other is in violation of moral law is not a violation of the separation of church and state.

As for the homily, it will not dwell on politics on a regular basis nor have a one-issue emphasis week after week that betrays an agenda other than the Gospel, but sometimes there will be a very clear connection between the Scriptural message and some political issue of the day.

We are voting members of a democracy, so one of the duties of our faith includes how we act politically. IMHO, if a member of a democracy never hears very clearly during a homily that our faith ought to inform our politics, this is just as worrisome as if we were to never hear about the True Presence, about sin or that some choices could carry the possible consequences of eternal damnation, or other basics of the faith.

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

I would judge it inappropriate for a priest to support or oppose legislation from the pulpit if he was doing so from theological opinion and not from the actual teaching of the Church. Lots of the “social justice” and “Catholic social teaching” you hear in modern America is either bad theology or else one possible interpretation among several, but when priests present their application of it from the pulpit they treat it as if it is a settled point of doctrine. It’s an abuse of one’s pulpit to misrepresent one’s theological opinions as settled magisterial teaching, and I would also say it’s abusive to constantly force people to listen to your opinions even with disclaimer, though if you feel really strongly about something from time to time it would be alright to let people know “and by the way I personally think x is clearly the right application of this teaching.”

 

[tdgesq]

Harrison & turtle18,

I wasn’t looking at the question from the perspective of qualifying as a non-profit under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, but I can see how that must be a consideration here in the United States. Thanks for pointing it out. For purposes of this thread though, I want to focus on whether it is an appropriate practice from the standpoint of the ecclesiastical and liturgical norms of the Church.

The homily is always about the Gospel message. Sometimes that message has to be put into the context of current political events; but the homily is never about politics as such, it’s about the Faith. And yes, sometimes that does mean that a priest must explain that a piece of proposed legislation is contrary to that Faith.

I suspected that there wouldn’t be a bright line rule on this. What you say here makes sense to me. Looking at the purpose of the homily as teaching the Gospel message, understanding that this message can sometimes bear heavily on current political events. What is troubling to me is that some of what I have been hearing is only tangentially related (sometimes a relationship is difficult to discern at all) to the readings. I have some other concerns that I will address below.

Priest speak on behalf of our Pope and through his Bishop. If the issue that guidence in being given on in anyway touches Morals or the practice of our Catholic Faith, He must, not should, must provide the Churches position on the topic.

A couple of issues here. First, I think every human decision is normative. I must always ask whether I should choose this particular thing over other things. If my thinking here is correct, then every decision is ultimately a moral decision. That would mean that a priest could appropriately comment during the homily on any potential decision that Catholics might make. Second, I am unclear as to whether the Church has taken a position on some of these bills. I am fairly certain it has not on at least one of them. Also, this is not to say that there can’t be competing goods. I think this happens frequently.

This is the extent of what Redemptionis Sacramentum has to say regarding the homily:’

Thank you for the reference. It seems that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has given some guidance on this issue. Some fairly broad language, but at least a warning that the homily should not be exclusively about politics.

I would judge it inappropriate for a priest to support or oppose legislation from the pulpit if he was doing so from theological opinion and not from the actual teaching of the Church.

That is my tentative opinion as well. I would add that I am concerned about basic competence in understanding the underlying piece of legislation, including the socio-economic models that might be associated with them. These are largely factual matters that sometimes take quite a bit of study to understand.

Finally, I am concerned about whether some of these homilies that contain explicit or implicit endorsements are wrongfully impinging on the faithful’s freedom of conscience. Don’t get me wrong, when the Church through the ordinary or extraordinary Magisterium speaks, I will obey whether I agree or not - and that includes intellectual assent to the best of my ability. I will also give obedience to my bishop. But when I see bills where a reasoned argument based on moral principles can be made from either side, I wonder whether it is appropriate for the priest to preach from the pulpit that it is a good or a bad bill.