Preaching on areas of morality is often difficult. With the topic which is chosen the priest is accused of being too political. Therefore if he decides to preach on abortion he is accused of being a Republican. If he preaches on the need take care of our environment he must be a democrat. If he preaches on the permanence of marriage as a bond which is entered into between a man and a woman which must be protected at all costs he is again a Republican. If he preaches on our need to have concern for the illegal alien among us he must again be a Democrat. And this list goes on and on.
In our Gospel we were instructed: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
Archbishop Chaput writes: “The Church claims no right to dominate the secular realm. But she has every right- in fact an obligation- to engage secular authority and to challenge those wielding it to live the demands of justice. In this sense, the Catholic Church cannot stay, has never stayed, and never will stay out of politics.”
Again there are people who see a separation of their faith from politics. There are people who subscribe to a political party and accept all of its tenets even if they are incompatible with not only our faith, but also natural law. We must remember that a coin has two sides which are distinct from one another and yet they are still one coin.
We are bound to follow the laws of the state which are found to be just. We are bound to do our civil duty in order to support the wellbeing of our nation. At the same time we are bound to practice our faith. At times the direction of the political life is contrary to our faith and thus the moral life. It is at these moments that we must have concern and cry out in rejection of such injustices be they against life, the family, the environment, the poor, and this list goes on and on.
No matter the political party that one subscribes too we must realize that our faith does not perfectly fall into any political party. For this reason we must place the values of our faith before a political principle. The faith in which we live is not a division between what want to accept and what we want to reject, but rather it is an acceptance of the whole.
When one comes forward to receive our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion it is an acceptance of the the whole of our faith not just a percentage of it.
