The following is a July 31 memorandum from Sacramento’s bishop Jaime Soto to pastors, parochial vicars, administrators, and deacons.
Guidelines for Pastors and Parishes on Advocacy and Political Action
This is a friendly reminder.
The California Catholic Conference of Bishops has prepared an instruction on political advocacy for use by Catholic clergy and parishioners. For your convenience, the Guidelines are attached in English and in Spanish.
Particularly in this period leading up to the general election in November, it is important to understand and adhere to this instruction.
Voter education and faithful citizenship materials prepared by the USCCB, the California Catholic Conference and the Diocese of Sacramento will be sent to the parishes. Any of these materials are authorized for parish use.
For sake of clarification, according to the Guidelines approved by the Bishops of California, the following activities are not permitted and may expose both your parish and the Diocese to legal action and penalties:
* Inviting a candidate for elected office to be a speaker at a parish event;
* Inviting an outside group to make a presentation to parishioners about a candidate or ballot issue;
* Inviting an outside group to conduct a voter registration drive;
* Using a Voter Guide prepared by an outside group.
If situations arise in which you are unsure about appropriate action, please contact the Bishop’s Office for guidance and clarification.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Respectfully,
+ Jaime Soto Bishop of Sacramento
These are perilous times in which we are liable to lose our civil freedom. ”BISHOPS TEACH, SANCTIFY AND GOVERN.” – Pope John Paul 2, General Audience October 28, 1992
I hope the “voters guides” contains the 5 NON-negotiable items – ABORTION;
EUTHANASIA;
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH;
HUMAN CLONING:
and GAY MARRIAGE.
All elected persons must respect human life first. Everything else will follow for a moral politician or immoral politician – including legislation and appointees.
Check the public voting records of all incumbents on the internet.
Check all candidates public statements, and their public actions, and their literature.
In addition, on the internet please read “WORTHINESS to RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION, General Principles” by Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict).
We must remember that there is nothing proportional in the USA to the murder of approx 1 MILLION babies each year.
Also on internet see: “ENDOWMENT for HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.
When in doubt about any REQUIRED teaching of the Church, check the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition”, rather than others personal political opinions.
VOTE morally. Each of us will be held accountable.
Wow. Can’t wait to see this important information at my parish! (but I won’t hole my breath).
duh!
this is the same information every bishop sends out, nothing new.
for one thing, it keeps the faithful from being bombarded by nutcases who want to use church property for thier own candidate.
we had some local group at our church protesting some EXTREMELY local ordinance about flowers or picking up aftter your dog or whatever, and they thought assaultilng people coming out of mass would get more signatures on their petition.
what a pain in the neck…
I read the Bishop’s diectives which consist mostly of “don’ts. The following is a quote from the document: “The following are examples of activities which are not allowed: Urging readers or listeners to vote for or against a particular candidate or party.”….Apparently the Church in Sacramento (and elsewhere, no doubt) is unwilling to boldly proclaim that Obama is the candidate of death and the Democrat Party is the party of death.
Marie,
If most of the Bishops were told, as was for example St. Peter when he was told to stop preaching about that crucified Nazarene, that they must honor the government instead of God, what do you think their answer would be. I doubt that most of them would answer like St. Peter did!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Could Cal-Catholic post an over view of the laws or IRS regs on this issue.Why do I see politicians at non-Catholic churches campaigning over the country publicly.Is this a case of catholic bishops imposing a self “catacomb mentality” on the catholic faithful??? Maybe,the bishops should show a little testicular fortitude and exert their Constitutional rights of free speech for themselves and the laity in the pews.
Larry from RI,
I like the way you put it “catacomb mentality” and “testicular fortitude”!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
If I were in +Soto’s diocese, I would follow his guidance by :
* Inviting an INSIDE group to make a presentation to parishioners about a candidate or ballot issue;
* Inviting an INSIDE group to conduct a voter registration drive;
* Using a Voter Guide prepared by an INSIDE group.
Of course, the INSIDE group would be composed entirely of non-cafetria catholics.
Non-cafeteria Catholics? That would most certainly exclude 99% of Catholics in the US, including many who lurk and bloviate here regularly.
What about bishops who publish multiple positive articles about only democrat candidates before national elections? What about bishops who only praise their alliances with democrat politicians? What about bishops who hold pro-Deathcare town hall style meetings that do not allow any form of negative inputs from anti-Obama people? I don’t see these items in the above article. Double standard? Hypocritical?
“Thou Shalt Not Kill” – Over three thousand defenseless babies are slaughtered every day by elective abortion. Our current President has shown contempt for the sanctity of life. Our Lady of Akita warned the world of a great chastisement to come if men did not repent. Catholics can no longer compromise. Mother Teresa also warned us! “The downfall of America will come through the sin of abortion.” Are Catholics listening?
Let all Catholic voters beware. When Catholics enter the privacy of the voting booth, they will each use their God given gift of free will. God sees the purity of intention of every soul. God is not fooled by agendas, loopholes or compromises. In the measure that Catholics show mercy in that voting booth for the 50 million plus babies who have been unmercifully slaughtered, that same measure will be measured back to our nation as a whole.
Our nation is currently witnessing the merciless slaughter of innocent victims in movie theaters, churches, schools and military bases. How long will we turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the messages of Our Lady Fatima and Our Lady of Akita?
If you don’t believe this, just look at the news. How is disobedience to God and disobedience to Church teaching working out for this nation?
Using a Voter Guide prepared by an outside group??? Really? Catholic Answers has or had a great voters guide, which was way better than theirs! OMGosh why does this seem working against us? God have mercy, this is very vague and open for issues!
I hope a copy of Bishop Soto’s guidelines are sent down to the Diocese of Orange. Especially where he prohibits “Inviting a candidate for elected office to be a speaker at a parish event.”
What will Loretta Sanchez and her sister Linda Sanchez do?
As Loretta’s previous speaking gig was at St. Callistus and it’s being subsumed in the new mega Catholic Crystal Cathedral think of the audience she might draw.
It’s a no! no!
* Inviting a candidate for elected office to be a speaker at a parish event;
How about our Catholic Leadership inviting Obama to a Catholic Charities
event??????????
Mecki,
You mean like “Catholic” Charities of New York is doing?
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
I read that Cath Charities of NY said that they did not invite Obama, that he was invited by Abp. Dolan.
Sounds like the objective is to repeat 2008.
If the Apostles had been as timid as the modern bishops, there would not be a Catholic Church!
John Feeney,
You said it like it is!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
I agree w/ Abeca Christian: When I first saw the caveat about avoiding a “…Voter’s Guide provided by an outside group,” I immediately thot of Catholic Answer’s well thot out and cogent guide that’s been around for at least the last three election cycles. I’m thinking that’s exactly who the bishop is referring to here. I liken it to “When they say ‘talk radio’ they really mean Rush Limbaugh.”
If I hear one peep from the ambo about anything regarding the election I’ll be surprised.
Most of our “bishops”, priests, and laity could not hold a candle to the Cristeros.
What is wrong with inviting a candidate who stands for the Church’s traditional values to speak at a church to let the people know he or she is a candidate.
The Demoncrats have no problem with speaking at pro-testant churches, especially Black ones!
In 72, I stuck my neck out and ran against a pro-abortion incumbent now deceased congressman. The Archdiocesan Tidings actually ran his ads after his Knight of Columbus Chief of Staff threatened them if they did not. Apparently they were more afraid of a rotten Demoncrat politician than they were of the just wrath of God.
I got more support from the Biola College faculty and students than I did from any “Catholic” parish or group.
Cristeros would ignore these cowards warnings and stand on the sidewalks in front of the Churches in defiance of these Judases.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Not being a religious scholar or canon lawyer, maybe some subtle truth escapes me. But I can’t help seeing a glaring contradiction between the first of the instructions given by Bishop Soto and the actions taken by other bishops at various times. Probably the most recent example is the invitation by Cardinal Dolan to President Obama to attend the Al Smith Catholic Charities Dinner in New York. What is the moral difference between a Cardinal inviting a candidate to speak at an archdiocesan event and a pastor inviting a candidate to speak at a parish event?
Maybe bishops assume a cardinal is more likely to make a wise choice so he can exercise more discretion than a pastor. A pastor might, for instance, invite speakers who differ with the Church on crucial issues and thereby give scandal to the parishioners. But is inviting President Obama not the greatest scandal of all? It’s hard to imagine a pastor making a worse choice than that, especially since the President is currently leading a campaign to force Catholics to violate their consciences. Some justify it on the grounds that it makes millions of dollars at a single dinner ‘to bring hope to the neediest children of the Archdiocese…’ Very worthy. But is it right to purchase those millions at the cost of the millions of unborn babies whose destruction the president so ostentatiously promotes? Our Church’s divinely inspired and unequivocal answer is a resounding no.
It is sad to say this is just one of the innumerable contradictions and instances of ‘moral incoherence’ (as the Wall Street Journal put it) pertaining to the life issues that plague our Catholic leadership today. No one looking at what is happening can conclude that the Church is at all serious about what she herself proclaims is the most important human rights issue of our day.
Prior to the 2008 election that gave us the most anti-life administration ever, I recall receiving a long list of all candidates for federal and congressional offices from Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, identifying each candidate by name and political party affiliation, together with their stand on abortion. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of pro-abortion candidates were democrats. This was a courageous act on the part of Carl Anderson, since a significant portion of the KofC membership is sadly still committed to the democrat party. These poor souls still yearn for the days of John F. Kennedy when the democratic party was still a party that respected life, traditional families, patriotism, and the flag. This, alas! is no longer true. It is interesting to note that the entire California democratic delegation supports the current administration’s anti-life, anti-family, pro-abortion and euthanasia policies. For no other reason, no faithful, believing Catholic can in good conscience vote the democrat slate. I hope the bishops’ voter guide stops beating about the bush and comes out four-square for life and traditional marriage. Dear Catholic voters, don’t allow yourselves to be sidetracked by “social justice” and “green justice” arguments and similar clap-trap; if you do, you will be culpable of perpetuating the horror of abortion, same-sex marriage, and other liberal abominations for another four years!
I have read several voter guides published by a state’s Catholic bishops with questions geared to Catholic voters. Almost all the Republican candidates will respond to the voter survey. No democrat candidates will respond, they don’t want their anti-Catholic views known. These surveys are a total waste of time! These democrats play on the emotions of these ignorant Catholics who still vote for them in overwhelming numbers.
I think Jurgensen is correct. Although the Democrats sadly constitute the party of death, they also are the party of immigrant rights, gay rights, and womens’ rights, and these trump everything else in most of the electorate. Given that the Republican party is nearly moribund in this state, why rock the boat? Why try to infuse life into a corpse? Better to cower in the corner and let the Democrats rule California and Obama the country for four more years. Yes, we are back to 2008.
As much as I do not trust bishops, I also do not trust professional Catholics, like “catholic answers”
One wonders why some people never went to religious life
Mbukukanyau,
Regarding “why some people never went to religious life”, probably for the same reason St. Thomas More didn’t. By the way, the Founder of “Catholic Answers”, Karl Keating is also a Catholic Lawyer as was St. Thomas More.
You show your blatant disrespect by writing “catholic answers”!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Mbukukanyau don’t feel bad, we don’t trust you on this forum either but just to keep the record straight, Catholic Answers does indeed fight the good fight, we have never read any scandals coming from them and they are very trust worthy. My husband when he converted, Catholics answers had many great resources that helped him study the faith even further, it also was a source I used when we were trying to convert protestants and it helped with reaching out to homosexuals in the message of Chastity. So I don’t know what you are talking about, you must have trust issues and I would hate to cross your path for the fear of being misjudged.
Abeca Christian,
Thank you for your excellent comments. There is a wise old Kenyan proverb: Be weary of grinning crocodiles who wander into the village proclaiming that others are not to be trusted.
Thank you Catherine. Hey that is a pretty neat wise Old Kenyan proverb. Thanks for posting….God bless you : )
With this kind of squeemish talk I fear the US Catholics will again elect a culture of death as they did in 2008.
Just two comments:
When a judge sends the jury out to collecively bring to him their verdict of either guilty or not guilty using only the facts presented in the case there
are no ‘ what ifs ‘ that can be used to conclude the verdict.
The pilot who crash-landed his plane in the Hudson River a few years ago was asked by a reporter how were you able to make the decision. He responded: When you live all the virtues, it isn’t difficult to make critical decisions.