You squirm and roll your eyes. It’s election season and your pastor is voicing his opinion on another political issue in the newsletter. You like your pastor. He’s a good priest and you appreciate him very much. But when it comes to this topic… you just don’t see it the same way he does.
Does being Catholic mean listening to your pastor on politics? Can your pastor tell you how to vote? How does “separation of church and state” apply?
Be aware that your pastor’s position on an issue may be very different from that of the priest across the street. This helps to make it clear that you should be more concerned about what the Church teaches than about what a particular priest says or thinks about political issues. In fact, the Church does not consider priests to be a go-to source for political guidance. As the Vatican II document “Guadium et Spes” states:
Secular duties and activities do not belong exclusively to the laity, but they rightly do. Lay people should not imagine that pastors are always the experts and can immediately offer concrete solutions to even the most complex problems, or that this is their mission. Rather, enlightened by Christian wisdom and paying close attention to the Church’s Magisterium, they should take up their own role.
So should we wholeheartedly embrace “separation of church and state”? There are more intellectually robust and morally sound definitions of this phrase, but in the modern context it often means keeping religious language, ideas, and even moral reasoning out of politics.
With that understanding, the answer is no. This is not an option for Christians, and until very recently, was completely foreign even to our nation’s founders and most secular Americans. We have an obligation to bring the gospel into our social and political order. As stated in paragraph 43 of the Charter of the Ecumenical Council:
They (all Christians) should set an example by their sense of responsibility and service to the common good, demonstrating in this way how authority and freedom, individual initiative and social solidarity, and the benefits of unity can be reconciled with fruitful diversity.
Our politics must be shaped by our faith, so is there a Vatican checklist that we as believers can look up to determine the “Catholic position” on certain policies or candidates that we should support?
No. Just as the Church has no program for “Catholic health care,” it does not have a list of policies that constitute “Catholic politics.” Rather, the Church recognizes that there are differences of opinion among Catholics.
In many cases, the Christian view of things implies of itself some specific solution in certain situations. But it happens quite frequently and naturally that, even with the same sincerity, some believers will differ from others on certain issues. … They should always strive to edify one another through honest discussion, to preserve mutual love and above all to care for the common good (Gaudium et Spes, 43).
These questions call for what is called “deliberate judgment” – decisions that best resolve the issues in a particular time and place. The obligation to care for the poor is timeless, but the way to do so may be different in 12th-century Assisi than it is in 21st-century New York. Good people with well-thought-out reasons may arrive at different or opposing ideas about the best way to address a particular problem. Even bishops and church documents offer contradictory suggestions and opinions on practical issues.
With regard to the issue of intervention in prudent orders, it is possible that some of the pontifical documents are not without flaws: bishops and their advisers did not always immediately take into account all the aspects and the entire complexity of the issue (Donum Veritatis 24).
This does not mean that the Church does not have an authoritative voice on moral issues that touch on politics, just as the Church is not silent on moral issues encountered in the medical field. The Church, through its bishops and the Pope, is empowered by Christ to define faith and morals. We cannot deny this and be faithful Catholics. But we can sometimes disagree about how best to apply such teachings to complex realities. As Trent Horne says,
Unlike doctrines or moral principles, the Church does not explicitly teach the specific answers that believers should accept when implementing moral principles. In some cases, differences in geographic, cultural, social, or economic circumstances may change the answers that are most appropriate for a particular community.
If your pastor preaches moral principles laid down by the church, you should prayerfully listen and apply them to your own political views. You are not adopting your pastor’s views, but you are trying to live out your Christian faith by how you vote.
But if he expresses an opinion about a particular way to meet those moral demands, you should prayerfully examine the matter, ponder it, and feel free to disagree with him if you come to a contrary conclusion.
Most priests avoid making careful judgments in their parish correspondence. When people confuse the pastor’s opinion with the Gospel, it can become an unnecessary obstacle to the faith. What pastors (and you!) must remember is this warning from Gaudium et Spes:
In the above circumstances, people should remember that no one is permitted to use the authority of the Church for his own opinion. They should always strive to edify one another through honest discussion, to preserve mutual love and, above all, to care for the common good.
There may be differences of opinion about how to best apply Church teachings to particular social, economic, or political challenges. In finding solutions, let us not ignore the moral law or create unnecessary obstacles for others by confusing Church teachings with our own judgments. Instead, let us communicate the light and truth of the Gospel so that they may be saved and contribute their own insights to these careful discussions for the common good.