What are Catholics — and all Americans — to make of this increasing clerical activism in trying to shape their political decisions? The bad news is it shows that the Church — for centuries no stranger to abuse of power, muddled priorities, and interfering where it shouldn’t — seems to be at it again. The good news: Perhaps now the media will stop personalizing the matter vis-a-vis a Presidential candidate and be forced to frame the issue in its proper context: Where is the line that separates church and state?
The Church has long sought to exert a level of influence over its members that, to me, has involved demands and restrictions that have precious little to do with the teachings of Christ. I’m not alone, either. Millions of Catholics face the same choice. Bad enough that the Church wants to dictate what its people do in their bedrooms — now it wants to tell them what to do in the voting booth? On Apr. 23, the Vatican issued guidelines for the giving and receiving of Communion. Among the reasons a priest can choose not to give a person Communion: If the Communicant is not “rightly disposed.”
The freakin’ nerve.
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