Politics and the Church

by Editor · June 5, 2013

When the Justice & Peace Department issued a strong statement recently in protest against e-tolling�even calling for resistance to it�the secular media perked up. The statement received wide coverage.�This is most welcome, especially since it enhanced the public profile of Justice & Peace (J&P) which had been diminished over the past couple of decades.

“At a time when many similar institutes of civil society are disappearing, the role of the CPLO is becoming increasingly important.” (CNS photo/Dave Hrbacek, The Catholic Spirit)

However, some of the coverage revealed another problem the Church faces in secular media coverage: unless there is a scandal in the Church or a leading Catholic makes controversial statements, some otherwise very good journalists seem to feel compelled to trivialise the Church�s influence on society.

So it was with the J&P statement when a local news website mirthfully invoked the image of incense and a God who intervenes in domestic policy affairs in its report on the J&P statement. The website�s journalist seemed to be amused at the notion of the Catholic Church taking a position on a political matter, even questioning to what extent the Catholic Church had spoken out against apartheid.

Catholics with a longer memory might be perplexed to learn that the Church is being suspected of inaction when it was the Catholic schools, with the backing of the bishops, that smashed school segregation, and when it was the Southern African Catholic Bishops� Conference that financed the foundation of the vital anti-apartheid newspaper New Nation.

At the heart of the snide sarcasm is the notion that the Catholic Church should not presume to comment on matters of politics�even if such an intervention is an important and thoughtful contribution to public discourse, as the J&P statement was.

Of course, the Catholic Church engages itself in politics all the time, albeit out of the spotlight of the news. In South Africa, the bishops� Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) is in constant dialogue with lawmakers, issues detailed research papers on legislative matters and provides a forum for dialogue.

At a time when many similar institutes of civil society are disappearing, the role of the CPLO is becoming increasingly important.

The Church must be vocal on political matters. It must speak out on issues of social justice, as demanded by its social teachings, and on matters where legislation compromises the morals of society.

The latter engagement�on issues such as abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage�seems to be the sticking point in those societies that are rapidly secularising. The Catholic Church often takes positions which challenge a growing political consensus, so its increasing marginalisation in public discourse is being encouraged, with the Christian churches being told to concern themselves only with spiritual and sacramental matters.

However, as Bishop Mario Toso, secretary for the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe: �To deny religiously informed moral argument a place in the public square is intolerant and anti-democratic.�

The Church must not be intimidated by this. Those speaking on behalf of the Church in the Public Square must be advised, of course, to be cautious in formulating temperate political statements so as not to cause embarrassment to the Catholic community or to avoid misrepresenting the positions of the Church. But the Catholic Church must speak out, forthrightly and confidently, on issues of concern.

The Church must criticise where criticism is due, and advocate where advocacy is necessary. It must stand up for justice and engage itself on behalf of the poor. And the Church must hold those to account who fail to exercise authority as a service, as demanded by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2235)

The Church must not be partisan in democratic politics�on this count it has failed in many countries�but it must provide prophetic witness as part of a pastoral responsibility to voice concerns on points of policy.

This is the demand of Vatican II�s Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes: �To pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it� (76).