Keep your politics out of my church

Keep your politics out of my church

Recently I was in a local grocery store checkout line, when the man behind me began talking about receiving daily telephone calls from candidates running for election, and how he couldn’t wait for it to be over. I agreed, and then he told me that at his local Catholic church the priest had been “talking politics.” He said, “We don’t need the church to be talking politics.” I disagree.

Catholic bishops and priests have an obligation to teach their flock, to shepherd the faithful in understanding church teachings including “the five non-negotiables,” five current issues that fundamentally conflict with moral law. The new HHS mandate requiring all employers, including Catholic churches, hospitals, and schools, to pay for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs is directly opposed to church teaching, and threatens vital social services the church has performed for almost 2,000 years.

The church will never tell its members for whom to vote. But our priests may, and should, educate Catholics about these teachings, to help us make informed choices in elections.

The U.S. government doesn’t require its citizens to belong to any church. This is the true meaning of the separation of church and state. But the current administration and mainstream media seem to be demanding citizens accept the “religion” of secularism and relativism. Basic religious freedom and freedom of conscience are under attack.

If you are a Catholic, I challenge you to become informed about what the church teaches, and why. If you disagree, religious freedom allows you to leave the church. So far, it’s still a free country. Keep the church out of politics? Keep your politics out of my church.

Judi Ann Fuller

Naperville