The Problem with the Political Church

“How can you be Catholic and be a Democrat?”

I was in high school when a friend at church first asked me this question. Her dad was a Republican state senator so she came by her conservative leanings honestly.

If it weren’t for my total lack of fast comeback skills, I would’ve asked her, “How can you be Catholic and be a Republican?”

Neither major political party in this country should have the Catholic vote on lock. Both parties have major flaws when it comes to following the Church’s teachings. Time and time again, though, I see well-meaning people who are honestly trying to be faithful, hurl shame at each other for voting their conscience.

I’ve been guilty myself of this kind of behavior, but this year I say: no more.

When our religious leaders become puppets for a political party, not only do they create division within the Body of Christ, but they lead us to commit the sin of idolatry.

As Catholics, we find ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place every election year. No matter who we vote for, we end up supporting candidates who may get it right on one issue, but who really mess it up on others.

It’s the coward’s way to look for a single issue to make elections “easy.” Single-issue voting is what got us into this mess. It allowed us to weaponize shame. It made it okay to tell people who disagree with us on one issue that they’re a “bad Catholic,” or that they’re going to hell.

We have to be better than our leaders

It doesn’t help that some of our leadership is driving the shame train. Priests are taking to Twitter like it’s their job. Instead of pointing us to Jesus, they’re using their leadership and authority to point us to a political party. It’s fine for them to have political leanings—we’re all human, with our own opinions and ways of seeing the world—but what’s not okay is for priests, pastors, and religious sisters to use their authority over us in matters of faith to shame us into agreeing with them politically.

When they do this, they drive a wedge into the body of Christ, effectively separating the fingers from the hand, or the arm from the shoulder.

Jesus was crucified once, y’all. We don’t need to crucify him again by making politics the reason we write each other off.

We need unity now more than ever. If our faith can’t unify us, even if we disagree on matters of earthly politics, what will ever bring us together?

What I’m saying is: please don’t follow your favorite priest on the shame train.

In 2016, I was torn about who to vote for in the presidential election. I felt both candidates had major issues, and I didn’t think I could vote for either one. Like many of the people who cling to single-issue voting, I wanted an easy choice. So I called a priest friend, and asked for advice.

“Who should I vote for, Father?! I want to follow the Church’s teaching but both candidates have un-ignorable issues for me. What do I do?!”

To his credit, this priest didn’t give me the easy answer I wanted. He shared some resources, like the USCCB’s document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” He told me who he would be voting for, and shared some of his reasoning. He gave me some things to prayerfully consider.

Never once did he pressure me to vote for the same candidate. Never once did he tell me who to vote for.

If only all priests and bishops would do the same.

(For the record, I ended up voting for a third-party candidate in 2016.)

When our religious leaders become puppets for a political party, not only do they create division within the Body of Christ, but they lead us to commit the sin of idolatry.

When a priest publicly supports a political party, especially (God help us) in a homily, he’s not just speaking for himself. He’s speaking for the Church.

He should speak for the Church. But the Church is not an American institution. It covers the whole globe. Holy Mother Church is mother to all—the poor, the immigrant, the homeless, the inmate on death row, the unborn, the LGBTQ+ person, the Democrat, and the Republican.  

As such, the priest should speak for the universal Church to help form our conscience on all the issues. The priest should remind us whose we are, that Jesus loves us enough to die for us, and that God loves every single person with the same degree of unconditional love.

All I see are a bunch of people putting politics before Jesus. All I see are people choosing political affiliation as the hill they want to die on instead of joining Jesus on Calvary—the only hill worth dying on.

We as the Church need to remember this when we are discerning who to vote for.

We live in a political world, so I’m not telling you to forsake politics. By all means, do the work to form your conscience on every issue. Then, put your conscience to work and vote.

Seriously. Please vote.

But let love be the thing that drives you.

Let love for all people—unborn, immigrant, death row inmate—be the driving force behind your vote.

And for goodness sake, for Jesus’s sake, if a fellow Catholic/Christian votes differently than you, don’t use your “faith” as a reason to judge them.

Love them enough to trust that they voted their conscience, just like you voted yours.