A few days ago I received an email asking my opinion of its attached video entitled “Courageous Priest Speaks The TRUTH About Joe Biden and Kamala Harris”.
I played the priest’s homily. My reaction to it was mixed. It was calm, measured, carefully developed. It was divided into two segments. The first about belief, teachings, and Christian responsibility I thought was very sound and solid. The second was a denouncement of the Catholic Joe Biden.
My opinion is, whether you sympathize with the priest’s point of view or not, that a direct and detailed criticism of one or another particular candidate is not an appropriate topic for a priest’s homily.
At college, which was a challenging time for me in my late teens, one thing I learned and learned to agree with was the “policy”, so to speak, of the educational program: “We’re here to teach you how to think, not what to think.”
That’s what I try to do. I don’t always succeed, but I try to call attention to the words of scripture, the teachings of Jesus, and the ever developing teachings of the Church and challenge my listeners or readers to consider them and make judgements that are consonant with them—but I try to avoid offering them any specific conclusions or advice.
I think this is the appropriate role of clergy—up to and including the pope! We should be teachers and preachers who try to persuade and lead people to what we believe is good and right—but we shouldn’t be making rules and imposing penalties (although this has often been attempted).
Every person is unique. No one is completely and totally identical with anyone else, even “identical twins”. This means that each of us may face a situation and the need for a decision or course of action that in some respect or other is totally different than any other before.
Of course, since we are not absolutely perfect by nature, we may get it right or we may get it wrong—and our motives may be right or our motives may be wrong.
“Politics is the art of the possible.” Idealists don’t make good politicians. The ideal is always the carrot on the stick—it draws us but we never 100% attain it. There are flaws and failings in every one of us, even when we’re striving to do the right thing.
Personally, I don’t think it’s my role to make a final judgement of anyone—it’s beyond my capabilities. However I can criticize and offer my assessment, for better or for worse of course, of the words they use or write, the effects I perceive them producing, etc.—but not a judgement of their essential worth or value, or goodness or lack thereof.
I don’t think any particular candidate for any particular office is a “saint” or a “devil”. Every candidate, every person, is a blend. We’re tempted to judge that the balance is tilted more one way than another, and that judgement may be right or wrong. Only God knows for sure.
Catholicism is a big tent and there’s room for all kinds, styles, and personalities. Catholics aren’t an army marching in step on parade, eyes left, right, or ahead as the command may be.
We’re more like a herd, wandering this way and that. We sometimes fall behind because we’re blindly grazing, sometimes race so far ahead, left, or right that we’re in danger of being separated or lost, and sometimes safely stick to the center where we’re surrounded by our own kind. There the dangers are being squeezed too much or the majority’s pulling you from the way!
25 October 2020