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Lectionary Reflections

Faith and Politics

The bishops of the Colorado Catholic Conference have asked that the Catholic faithful in the state of Colorado support two proposed amendments to state law by signing petitions that will be sent to the legislature. These two amendments deal with:1) a severe restriction on late-term abortions (a much needed response to the barbarism of late-term abortions); and 2) an explict definition of marriage as something occuring between a man and a woman (a more controversial issue).

From what I've heard, some pastors are ignoring this request from the bishops as much as possible, downplaying it, and simply trying to slip it into other things so it won't be noticed too much. In fact, in one parish, I heard that this was being done so that the large weekly income would remain intact.

Now, I can't deal with things in that way for two reasons: 1) it's basically disrespectful to the bishops who made the request; 2) it's basically disrespectful to the lay faithful—to you.

I have enough trust in you that you can actually hear something, engage it, and respond to it in your freedom—in that freedom which the Epistle spoke about: "You have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the promis, the pledge of our inheritance, which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for His own, to make His glory praised" (Eph. 1:13-14).

If I really believe that—that each and every one of us here has been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit and given real freedom—then as pastor I can't deal with you as if you were just the money-cow to be carefully massaged and manipulated to keep the milk flowing. You are far more important to me than that!

So, I want to take this episcopal request as an opportunity, as a moment for serious theological, spiritual reflection and dialogue for us a Christian people, a people stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit. What the bishops have asked for is an engagement with the political process. That itself is something for us to think about and to talk about. What would that engagement look like? How should we do it? Should we do it at all?

The relationship between religious faith and politics is as old as the Old Testament reading we heard this morning. The priest Amaziah says to Amos, "Get out of here, get out of Bethel; do your prophesying back in your own land of Judah. Earn your bread there. This is the Royal Sanctuary, the national temple. So don't be saying things against the State" (cf. Amos 7:12-13). That was Amaziah's message to Amos: Don't interfere in the political set-up.

Amos' response is, "I'm not a professional prophet. This isn't my job. I have to say what I'm saying because the Lord called me, because Yahweh has interfered in my life and told me to do this."

The underlying problem was the relationship between hearing what the Lord was saying to the prophet and then speaking a word that would indeed impinge on the political set-up.

The question for us is similar—and I'm not giving you an answer. I'm asking for you to think deeply and prayerfully about this, to think about this question "out of the Gospel." In a democratic and secular society, how do we hear the Word of God and then speak that word to a world which has often lost its moral and spiritual moorings? How do we do that? Do we try to influence the political process, or do we pull back and not engage? What do we do?

If what we heard in the Gospel reading (Mk. 6-7-13) means anything, it mens that we too—those who have been stamped with the seal of the Spirit—have been sent out by the Lord Jesus to heal; to speak a word of hope and repentance. That's not just for the clergy. That's for you, too.

And how do we do that in our world, in our society, such as it is. How do we do what Amos did? Responses to this problem have been many and varied throughout Christian history.

What the bishops have asked for—and whatever we individually do with it, it provides us with an occasion, an opportunity to reflect more deeply and more critically on our involvement in society as Christians. And that is a hard nut to crack. And whatever else we do or don't do, I think that we need to take very seriously the call to hear, to listen, and to struggle to discern what it is that the Lord is saying to us today. What is the Word He wants us first to hear and then to speak?

—Fr. Chrysostom Frank

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