Priest Giving Personal Opinion at Mass

[PrayHarder]

At the end of the today’s homily the priest gave a little side note about his happiness that a certain bill passed in Congress. It seemed very inappropiate as he did not give any commentary but just tacked it on by saying, “as a side note, I’m very happy that Congress passed a bill [blah blah blah].”

The reason I’m note citing the particular bill is because that’s not really what is important. To me it seems like a priest shouldn’t comment on political matters unless he is doing so in order to highlight a Catholic teaching as part of the homily. It can be hard to tell where the Church’s teaching ends and the priest’s personal opinion begins. And in this case, the priests support of this bill actually runs counter to the Church’s teaching. I fear this will cause a lot of confusion where people either think that the Church has a teaching on a particular subject when it does not or that the Church’s stance is changing.

Anyway I just needed to vent a little because it seems like priests are injecting more politics into homilies and prayers of the faithful.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

I agree with you that Mass is not the place for the priest’s personal political views. However, that being said, its a little unfair to comment that the priest in question said something that was opposed to Church teaching while not mentioning what was said. Perhaps you are incorrect about Church teaching…

 

[TheMc]

At the end of the today’s homily the priest gave a little side note about his happiness that a certain bill passed in Congress. It seemed very inappropiate as he did not give any commentary but just tacked it on by saying, “as a side note, I’m very happy that Congress passed a bill [blah blah blah].”

The reason I’m note citing the particular bill is because that’s not really what is important. To me it seems like a priest shouldn’t comment on political matters unless he is doing so in order to highlight a Catholic teaching as part of the homily. It can be hard to tell where the Church’s teaching ends and the priest’s personal opinion begins. And in this case, the priests support of this bill actually runs counter to the Church’s teaching. I fear this will cause a lot of confusion where people either think that the Church has a teaching on a particular subject when it does not or that the Church’s stance is changing.

Anyway I just needed to vent a little because it seems like priests are injecting more politics into homilies and prayers of the faithful.

May I ask what the bill was? I hope it wasn’t this!!, althout it sounds like it might have been:

And in this case, the priests support of this bill actually runs counter to the Church’s teaching.

If it was a “good” bill, such as a pro life, pro family, pro trad marriage, etc… then I would say there’s nothing wrong with this Other than that, you would have to take it on a case by case basis.

If the opinion voiced in the homily (or anywhere, for that matter) is against church teaching, that is seriously scandalous, and should be reported to the bishop!

 

[PrayHarder]

I agree with you that Mass is not the place for the priest’s personal political views. However, that being said, its a little unfair to comment that the priest in question said something that was opposed to Church teaching while not mentioning what was said. Perhaps you are incorrect about Church teaching…

If a priest is going to offer a political view in the middle of Mass then he must explain how it fits with Church teaching. As you pointed out, maybe I am incorrect about the Church’s teaching in some cases. That makes it all the more important for the priest to clarify his enthusiasm for specific legislation with Church doctrine. And if he doesn’t have time to go into more detail in a homily then he shouldn’t bring it up during Mass. Even if the law is in accordance with the Chruch’s teachings, just saying “hurray that bill passed!” during Mass is inappropriate.

On a larger note, I just have problems when priests ask the congregation to pray for the passage of a specific bill (or pray in thanksgiving for a bill that already passed). Even if the bill has a good intention it might be poorly implemented, too expensive, or contain too many loopholes for it to be a good idea. There are many ways a bill that follows core Christian values can still be a bad bill. That is why priests should not mention specific pieces of legislatition during Mass because it comes across as an official Church endorsement.

 

[laszlo]

Here is a quite good instruction about the Church and politics

faithfulcitizenship.org/resources/dos_and_donts

We strongly urge all parishioners to register, to become informed on key issues, and to vote. The Church does not support or oppose any candidate, but seeks to focus attention on the moral and human dimensions of issues. We do not authorize the distribution of partisan political materials on parish property.

 

[FAB]

At the end of the today’s homily the priest gave a little side note about his happiness that a certain bill passed in Congress. It seemed very inappropiate as he did not give any commentary but just tacked it on by saying, “as a side note, I’m very happy that Congress passed a bill [blah blah blah].”

The reason I’m note citing the particular bill is because that’s not really what is important. To me it seems like a priest shouldn’t comment on political matters unless he is doing so in order to highlight a Catholic teaching as part of the homily. It can be hard to tell where the Church’s teaching ends and the priest’s personal opinion begins. And in this case, the priests support of this bill actually runs counter to the Church’s teaching. I fear this will cause a lot of confusion where people either think that the Church has a teaching on a particular subject when it does not or that the Church’s stance is changing.

Anyway I just needed to vent a little because it seems like priests are injecting more politics into homilies and prayers of the faithful.

With out you indicating what the bill is thast he liked, there’s not way to know if he should have expresed his opinion.
Since many moral and social issues have become political, the line have been blurred.
Abortion, and health care are both issues that have great moral ramifications on which the the Church speaks on, both are also very political.

 

[PrayHarder]

With out you indicating what the bill is thast he liked, there’s not way to know if he should have expresed his opinion.
Since many moral and social issues have become political, the line have been blurred.
Abortion, and health care are both issues that have great moral ramifications on which the the Church speaks on, both are also very political.

So it seems like I need to cite what the priest said in order to move this discussion forward. Basically, at the end of his homily he said he was glad the the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” passed because it will bring about a greater sense of community for our gay brothers and sisters.

Now, I don’t want to get side tracked on the morality of homosexual behavior. The Church is quite clear on where She stands on that. However, the Church does not have a teaching on the requirements for joining the US armed forces. So this particular bill is actually theologically neutral. Of course we could go into the slippery slope argument of what this will do in the debate for traditional marriage and such, but let’s focus on the original question – priests voicing their support for specific pieces of legislation in the middle of Mass.

I think it is completely inappropriate for a priest to voice support for specific pieces of legislation or to ask the congregation to pray for it. For example, there is a big difference between praying for those who are unemployed vs. praying that bill #12345 passes. Like I said earlier, someone may be against a specific bill even if it appears to do something good because of the way it is implemented. A priest is always, but especially during Mass, acting as a representative of the Catholic Church. So he needs to be extra careful what he says in public because people will take his words as the teaching of the Catholic Church.

 

[ConstantineTG]

So it seems like I need to cite what the priest said in order to move this discussion forward. Basically, at the end of his homily he said he was glad the the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” passed because it will bring about a greater sense of community for our gay brothers and sisters.

Now, I don’t want to get side tracked on the morality of homosexual behavior. The Church is quite clear on where She stands on that. However, the Church does not have a teaching on the requirements for joining the US armed forces. So this particular bill is actually theologically neutral. Of course we could go into the slippery slope argument of what this will do in the debate for traditional marriage and such, but let’s focus on the original question – priests voicing their support for specific pieces of legislation in the middle of Mass.

I think it is completely inappropriate for a priest to voice support for specific pieces of legislation or to ask the congregation to pray for it. For example, there is a big difference between praying for those who are unemployed vs. praying that bill #12345 passes. Like I said earlier, someone may be against a specific bill even if it appears to do something good because of the way it is implemented. A priest is always, but especially during Mass, acting as a representative of the Catholic Church. So he needs to be extra careful what he says in public because people will take his words as the teaching of the Catholic Church.

I agree though. Its like saying, should people engaged in pre-marital sex or extra-marital affairs not have access to certain jobs? The sins of one should not affect one’s ability to get into a job as its besides a point. I mean, lets not kid what straight American soldiers do during their free time when their on another part of the world. I came from a country that used to host the largest US military bases on foreign soil. The immediate vicinity of the US bases are prostitution dens and strip clubs. It was a thriving industry. So morality of the soldiers shouldn’t be an issue in becoming one.

 

[FAB]

So it seems like I need to cite what the priest said in order to move this discussion forward. Basically, at the end of his homily he said he was glad the the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” passed because it will bring about a greater sense of community for our gay brothers and sisters.

.

This is a valid social justice concern. We are all God’s children no matter how we are oriented. The catechism of the Church does recognize that sexual orientation may not just be a choice, but also does teach that the as with any single person , there should not be sex outside of a marriage. This can be a particular cross for someone who is homosexual.
We as Catholics are still called to reach out and minister to them, as the priest said they are our brothers and sisters.

 

[PrayHarder]

This is a valid social justice concern. We are all God’s children no matter how we are oriented. The catechism of the Church does recognize that sexual orientation may not just be a choice, but also does teach that the as with any single person , there should not be sex outside of a marriage. This can be a particular cross for someone who is homosexual.
We as Catholics are still called to reach out and minister to them, as the priest said they are our brothers and sisters.

The priest didn’t mention any of what you said. You extrapolated a longer Church teaching from the comment. He didn’t mention this particular legislation as an example for a longer homily on social justice. While I don’t expect a priest to spoon-feed the congregation everything, he shouldn’t just say “hurrah this bill passed!” and move on with the Mass. This will lead many to draw false conclusions on Church teachings. That is doubly true for controversial topics such as this one.

If you don’t think people will be led astray, just look at what the media did to the Pope’s comment on condom use. If clergy dives into controversial topics than they need to make sure people hear the whole story and not just a snippet.

 

[FAB]

The priest didn’t mention any of what you said. You extrapolated a longer Church teaching from the comment. He didn’t mention this particular legislation as an example for a longer homily on social justice. While I don’t expect a priest to spoon-feed the congregation everything, he shouldn’t just say “hurrah this bill passed!” and move on with the Mass. This will lead many to draw false conclusions on Church teachings. That is doubly true for controversial topics such as this one.

If you don’t think people will be led astray, just look at what the media did to the Pope’s comment on condom use. If clergy dives into controversial topics than they need to make sure people hear the whole story and not just a snippet.

So what did the preist do with his comment? He made you think, look at you own possition and question not only your own thoughts, but to look into what the Church teaches. apparently after he said don’t ask don’t tell your heard

I’m very happy that Congress passed a bill [blah blah blah]."

and some thing about the dignity of our brothers and sisters, which was by the way his point it seems.

As far as the pope’s comments, yes the media took it out of context, why do you believe them anyway? They have shown themselves over and over again to be anti Christian and anti Catholic. Any time I hers a story about the Church comming from the Main stream media I investigate the story more completely so I can have the full story.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

He can say whatever he wants as long as it doesn’t contradict Church teaching. I agree, however, that ambiguity about what is personal opinion vs. what is Church teaching should always be avoided.

But politics overlaps with some pretty important matters regarding the dignity of human life and the importance of social justice. It’s unfair and counterproductive in my opinion to expect priests to sanitize their homilies of any potential political overlapping. Our bishops take political positions (non-binding on the faithful, of course) on a variety of issues anyway. The bishops in my state even openly and officially take positions on ballot issues (since it’s not candidates, they can do that without violating their tax-exempt status). Sometimes I agree with them. Sometimes I don’t.

By the way, it was very obvious that the bill in question was the repeal of DADT. Before I read reply #7 I was going to respond and say something like, “Let’s not kid ourselves. We all know what bill he was talking about - the repeal of DADT.”

[edited]

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

The priest didn’t mention any of what you said. You extrapolated a longer Church teaching from the comment. He didn’t mention this particular legislation as an example for a longer homily on social justice.

I think you contradict yourself. First you said that the priest just said that he was happy a certain bill passed and went on with Mass.

When pressed you gave further specifics and said.

So it seems like I need to cite what the priest said in order to move this discussion forward. Basically, at the end of his homily he said he was glad the the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” passed because it will bring about a greater sense of community for our gay brothers and sisters.

So he just did say he was happy that the bill repealing DADT was pass, but added why he was happy, which does fit what FAB said. FAB went on to explain it more but you did say that you do not feel the need to be “spoon fed” but now it appears otherwise.

 

[Lancer]

I agree though. Its like saying, should people engaged in pre-marital sex or extra-marital affairs not have access to certain jobs? The sins of one should not affect one’s ability to get into a job as its besides a point. I mean, lets not kid what straight American soldiers do during their free time when their on another part of the world. I came from a country that used to host the largest US military bases on foreign soil. The immediate vicinity of the US bases are prostitution dens and strip clubs. It was a thriving industry. So morality of the soldiers shouldn’t be an issue in becoming one.

Thanks for the compliment pal!..before you pass on any more…you might wnat to check and see what the UCMJ says about the military morality standards and specifically how you will be held accountable if you violate the UCMJ.

Semper fi
Pax Christi

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

Thanks for the compliment pal!..before you pass on any more…you might wnat to check and see what the UCMJ says about the military morality standards and specifically how you will be held accountable if you violate the UCMJ.

Semper fi
Pax Christi

Oh, please. Nowhere did he imply that what he said is true of every soldier. Get off your high horse with this “thanks for the compliment” nonsense.

And I’m not sure what the UCMJ is or where to access is. Would you mind quoting from it for us? Surely you’re not claiming the military officially bans fornication or patronizing strippers, are you?