Bishops in Politics?

DON’T look now but our political pot is heating up again. It should come as no surprise that the question of clerics in politics is once more brought up.

Some sectors, in fact, have boldly called priests and bishops to quickly step into the arena, directly intervening in political affairs. Stop playing coy, they say. We are now in modern times. Things have changed. Attitudes should, too.

Some opinion-makers went to the pitiable extent of telling one and all that the Church should change, that theology, ecclesiology, and other ecclesiastical sciences should change to accommodate this new fact of life, they claimed.

I wonder if they knew what they were saying. What I could gather was that there was more passion than reason in their arguments. The discussion, which breezily touched on many points, started with the wrong key, and did not manage to end with the right one.

The problem is that many of our so-called political pundits, with clear ideological biases, cannot picture the Church beyond being one more socio-political force or element in our body politic. It’s a terribly poor understanding of the Church.

They seem unable to stomach a Church that is spiritual and supernatural in origin, character and mission, from start to finish even if it has to deal with a material world. Talking to them about these things would be like talking to the wind.

They are still stuck with the simplistic black-and-white mindset that if one is spiritual and supernatural in orientation, he necessarily is not concerned with the material and temporal affairs of men.

The clerics cannot be directly involved in political activities, period. It’s not in their job description, in the nature of their vocation and mission. It’s not the example of Christ, and even if violated many times, it’s not in the Church laws.

But this does not mean that they are indifferent to the political situation of any given place and time. Their interest in politics, as in any other human temporal affair, is deep and constant, but pursued in a different way.

In this regard, I would like to remit some relevant texts from the Church document, Pastoral Directory for Bishops (Apostolorum successores), issued by the Vatican on February 22, 2004.

Its Paragraph 117, entitled “The bishop and the public authorities,” gives us a picture of how bishops should behave in political matters:

“The pastoral ministry and also the common good of society normally require that the bishop maintain direct or indirect relations with the civil, political, socio-economic, military authorities, etc.

“The bishop has to fulfill said task always in a respectful and courteous manner, but without ever compromising his proper spiritual mission. While he personally nourishes and transmits to the faithful a great appreciation for the public office and prays for the representatives of the public authority, he should not tolerate any restriction to his own apostolic freedom to openly proclaim the Gospel and the moral and religious principles, even in social issues.

“Disposed to praise the effort and the authentic social accomplishments, he
should equally condemn any public offense to the law of God and to human dignity, always working in such a way that would not give the community the slightest impression that he is interfering in areas over which he has no competence or that he is favoring special interests.”

As to priests’ and bishops’ concern for politics, we can do a lot by way of providing from Christian faith “principles for reflection, criteria for judgment, guideline for action,” as the Church’s social doctrine commands us.

With these, without assuming specific positions and while respecting the freedom of all, we can significantly clarify issues, point out possible dangers, enlarge or enrich views, etc. In short, we can give a Christian tone to all positions, and create a proper atmosphere for a healthy dialogue.

Perhaps this is an area to be studied more thoroughly and given more action. It’s when the people hear hardly anything from priests and bishops in this regard that they tend to think that priests and bishops are doing nothing in our socio-political concerns.