Can priests take sides in politics?

[frecklemom]

What do you think about priests blatantly showing their political affiliations on Facebook or other social networks? I thought they were supposed to keep such preferences under wraps. It’s offensive to me to see a priest tag certain cartoons and pictures making fun of one political party and therefore implying an allegiance to another. It seems this would be divisive among the “flock.”

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Assuming these are personal pages and are not owned by a parish or diocese, I do not see a problem with priests expressing political sentiments on their private web sites or social network pages. Unless the priest is a member of a religious order, in which case he might need permission from his superior to do so, a priest on his own time and using his own resources is a human being free to express his political views.