The letter, penned by Rev. Steve Angi, the chancellor for the archdiocese, includes examples of materials recently found in Cincinnati-area parishes: voter ballot samples, a “Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics,” and a stack of tickets to a rally for Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
IRS regulations stipulate that all nonprofits are “absolutely prohibited” from taking part in political campaigns, making financial donations, or endorsing candidates. “But it happens every Sunday, all over the country, and probably every Saturday too,” said Richard Safire, a University of Dayton law professor. “And this issue pops up every presidential election.”
The Catholic Church has had an unusually high profile during this election because of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ stance opposing President Barack Obama’s mandate to provide access to birth control for employees of Catholic institutions. Also, Ryan and Democratic Vice President Joe Biden are Catholic.
A newly-formed group, Parishes without Politics, approached Angi several weeks ago with concerns that parishioners were being inundated with messages advocating for or against political candidates. “He was very receptive to our concerns,” said Deborah Rose-Milavec of Cincinnati. “We think the Cincinnati Archdiocese’s letter should be a model for bishops nationwide and the rest of the church leadership.”
Tony Stieritz, the archdiocesan director for Catholic Social Action, said it is a concern for the church, which updated its guidelines addressing politicking in 2009. “As Election Day approaches, we’ve received an increasing number of questions and concerns about appropriate materials and websites,” he said. “In addition, we are learning that some parishioners are even receiving at their homes partisan literature and phone calls from outside organizations, identifying themselves as Catholic.”
He said the church is not involved in such partisan campaigning.
Some evangelical churches nationwide conducted “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” Oct. 7, urging ministers to preach politics in a move that has been interpreted by critics as a deliberate defiance of IRS rules. Flagrant violations undoubtedly will attract the scrutiny of the IRS, such as the Church in the Valley in Leakey, Texas, whose outdoor sign trumpeted: “Vote for the Mormon, not the Muslim! The capitalist, not the communist!”
Yet for some of the faithful, it is the subtle, more complex situations that are the most troublesome — occasions when they feel that the spirit of the law, if not the letter, appears to have been violated. Roxanne Hemmelgarn of Kettering, 73, is a lifelong Catholic who embraced the reforms of Vatican II in her youth. Now she feels so alienated by what she perceives as political messages from church leaders that she’s traveling to Cincinnati to attend Mass. “I saw a recent church bulletin that said you are morally evil if you vote for a candidate who is pro-choice,” she said.”People are afraid to say what they think because the church is so retaliatory.”
Mel Brown of Kettering sees it very differently. “Churches have an obligation to its members to preach from the pulpit its beliefs, no matter if it is an election year or not. I want my church leader to give a Sunday homily that makes me reflect on how I am conducting my life. If I so strongly disagree with my churches teachings and how it correlates to a particular politician or political party, then maybe I am the problem, not the church.”
The nonpartisan social justice advocacy group, Ohio Catholics United for Education, disagrees with that stance. It is sponsoring a pledge campaign in Ohio that urges pastors to “keep politics out of the pulpit” during church services. Along with distributing the pledge to every Catholic pastor and bishop in the state, the group plans to monitor political activity in churches and organize teams of local parishioners to spread awareness.
“The law is quite clear that nonprofits can actively advocate on political issues, as long as they’re not endorsing a candidate,” said Vincent Miller, professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton. “People can take it that way and perhaps that’s unavoidable. Churches are free to speak out on certain issues even if they break out along certain party lines.”
Gwen Sobieski of Kettering said it is a moral obligation of every Catholic to be informed on church teachings when they vote: “The church actually teaches that there are non-negotiable issues, including abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and homosexual marriage,” she said.
She complained that the Cincinnati archdiocese steers clear of such advocacy, “leaving Catholics here without a very important rudder. As individualistic Americans it rubs us the wrong way, but the church was given teaching authority over us and I think we should at least be informed about what that authority is teaching.”
Some Catholics believe Archbishop Dennis Schnurr came close to endorsing Republican Mitt Romney for president when he wrote a Sept. 19 letter on faithful citizenship. In the letter, Schnurr outlined three “intrinsic evils”: abortion, safeguarding religious liberties and protecting “the social institution of marriage.”
“Opposing intrinsic evil actions that directly threaten the sanctity and dignity of life should have special claim on our consciences as we choose between candidates who do not promote all of the Catholic social teaching,” he wrote.
Safire and others said such statements, while political in interpretation, do not violate IRS guidelines because churches have the right to offer moral guidance to their parishioners.
Kevin O’Hearn of Dayton believes that churches tread on dangerous territory when they venture into politics. When he attended an archdiocese-sponsored discussion about the new health care mandate recently, he said “some of the speakers, lay and religious, directly endorsed a certain political party and specific candidates. One speaker, a priest, went so far as to indicate that some Catholic politicians, all of them belonging to the same political party, should be denied Communion. I find this kind of talk far removed from the gospels and the teachings of Jesus as it only serves to divide our church and our hearts.”
Whether a particular sermon or political speech or action crosses that line is often a matter of perspective. Take the “Protect Religious Freedom” signs that pepper the lawns of local homes and churches. For some Catholics, they represent a non-partisan, principled stand for religious freedom in the wake of the controversy over coverage for contraception in the Affordable Care Act. For others, “it is code for ‘Vote Republican,’” according to Chris Pumpelly, communications director for Catholics United. “Everybody knows what it means.”
Kathleen Shanahan of Clayton recently complained to her pastoral associate when those signs popped up on the lawn of her longtime Catholic church, St. Rita’s, in Harrison Twp.
“You can say you’re non-partisan,” she told him, “but those signs point to only one candidate. Worse than that, those signs elevate access to contraception above every other issue.”
The signs came down the next day, which reaffirmed Shanahan’s faith in her church. “In a time when everything feels so contentious, it felt great that I could raise a concern and we could talk about it and there was a resolution,” she said.
Sobieski said that Catholics can disagree in good faith: “I really think that the challenge the church presents to our culture will be heard most clearly if we can love each person we come into contact with,” she said, “even when we disagree.”
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