“All citizens ought to be aware of their right and duty to promote the common good by casting their votes. The Church praises and esteems those who devote themselves to the common good and who take upon themselves the burdens of public office in order to be of service. … Citizens should cultivate a generous and loyal spirit of patriotism, but without narrow-mindedness. … Christians should be a shining example by their sense of responsibility and their dedication to the common good.” [Gaudium et spes no. 75]
The Catholic Church is saying we have a right and duty to participate in the political life of our country.At the same time there seems to be an aversion to getting involved in politics. i know the laity is permitted. i know the clergy is not.
I personally can’t seem to reconcile what seems to be the Church saying 2 different things.
i remember when the Bishops made no secret of their effort to get then Pres Obama to work on immigration reform. They were quite public in their advocacy.
Now i’ve gotten the impression Pope Francis is reluctant to say anything about our Catholic politicians promoting abortion and frowns on the clergy saying a word. Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life has been an advocate for the unborn and the prolife movement for years. He openly supported Pres Trump and was disciplined for it.
i have a real problem because the lines between political and moral issues are intertwined now. Catholic politicians are openly supporting policies contrary to Church teaching. It’s been going on for a long time and the Church has been silent.Funny how they found their voice when it came to immigration. I’m not condemning them. I’m only mentioning the impression it gave me.Maybe i got the wrong impression but that’s how I saw it at the time.
Abortion is intrinsically evil. Don’t you think we should give it more consideration than the immigration problem?
The Separation of Church and State
The minute you bring up a topic like this one the first reaction you almost always get is, “what about the separation of Church and state”? What about it? All the Constitution says is that CONGRESS shall make no law-another words the Constitution restrains the legislative and executive branch ; not the other way around.
There is no mention of the separation of Church and State in the Constitution. All the framers wanted to do is make sure we didn’t end up like England,the country we declared our independence from. We do not have a state Church like England did. Freedom of religion and the free exercise there of is a protected right.
The framers were Christian and based our documents on Christian-Judeo principles. Yes, i know about Jefferson ,the deist. This one exception always comes up. Doesn’t change a thing.
So What’s the Deal With Pelosi and her Archbishop
What we’ve established so far:
The Catholic Church teaches we have a duty to be good citizens & patriots.
The Church has a role in our moral guidance,but is not supposed have a role in political guidance.
Freedom of religion and the free exercise of it is a protected right in the United States according to our Constitution.
So what happened between Speaker Pelosi and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone?
“A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ‘are not to be admitted to Holy Communion,'” Cordileone told Pelosi
Evidently he went out of his way to offer her this guidance and since she refused it he had no choice left.
Church teaching is clear; abortion is a non negotiable issue and is intrinsically evil.
The archbishop has a moral obligation to admonish the Speaker. He is looking out for her spiritual welfare as well as the spiritual welfare of other Catholics.
We have an issue here. There are too many Catholics who believe you can be pro abortion and there’s no conflict with Church teaching.
A Catholic in public office like Speaker Pelosi has a particular responsibility when it comes to the issue of abortion. 1.She directly affects policy regarding abortion. 2 she is in the public eye and is causing scandal to the Church. It is because of her position she can lead other Catholics astray . She’s misleading people into thinking the Catholic Church has no problem with abortion. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If you’re a Catholic and pro abortion you’re at odds with what you profess to believe.IMHO there are moral issues that happen to be political issues too. At this point i don’t see how you can separate the 2., especially when it comes to abortion. i would argue that there are points in history where a political party, movement or even regime are just untenable with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Trump:The American Years 