A regular reader and FOB (Friend of The Bench), Msgr. Thomas Welbers from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles offers a few thoughts on the subject in this week’s issue of LA’s The Tidings:

There is no law, either ecclesiastical or civil, either requiring or explicitly forbidding the flag in a church. So we have to look carefully both at our experience as American Catholics and at the principles behind our documents. Then we can determine when and where the display of our flag is appropriate.

We have to look carefully both at our experience as American Catholics and at the principles behind our documents. Then we can determine when and where the display of our flag is appropriate.

The custom of displaying a national flag in church is uncommon outside the United States and has its origins here about 150 years ago in an effort to counter the rampant and often violent anti-Catholicism that raged throughout our country.

In the mid-19th century, Catholic immigrants were often accused of being loyal to a foreign ruler – the pope. (Until 1870, the pope also ruled the Papal States, a sovereign nation that included much of present-day Italy.) Catholics often had to go out of their way to demonstrate their loyalty to the United States.

In the 20th century, Catholics became more integrated into the mainstream American culture, but as residual anti-Catholicism and suspicions persisted even up to the election of John F. Kennedy, so did the need to demonstrate our patriotism by displaying the American flag in the sanctuary.

However, if we examine both the nature of our worship and the requirements of due respect for the American flag, the reasons why it is not appropriate today as a permanent fixture in our worship space will become evident.

Church documents carefully regulate the furnishings of the church because everything must focus on the transcendent mystery that is celebrated there. Anything that creates a secular focus, even a noble and worthwhile one, detracts rather than adds to the nature and meaning of what we are doing in church. Our worship must raise our minds and hearts beyond earthly things.

The U.S. Bishops’ 1978 Environment and Art in Catholic Worship explicitly discouraged the display of a national flag. This was repeated and amplified in a 1982 question and response in the Newsletter of the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy. The more recent document, “Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture, and Worship” (2000), omits any specific mention of flags, but repeatedly articulates the principles that exclude furnishings and artifacts extraneous to worship and devotion.

We come to worship as Americans, justifiably proud of our American heritage and identity. But our focus at Mass is not on Americanism; it is on our union with Christ as his faithful disciples, a reality that transcends both national boundaries and national interests. The symbols in our worship environment emphasize that the true banner that we follow is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In addition to liturgical principles, the U.S. Flag Code itself suggests the inappropriateness of the American flag in our churches. Section 175k states: “When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman’s or speaker’s right as he faces the audience.”

Such prominence is impossible by the very nature of our worship. And to tuck our nation’s flag away in a secondary place would not give it proper respect.

There’s more, so be sure to read the whole thing.