Priests should only talk about God!

THAT’S right. And especially, when it involves bishops.

When they, we—me included, stray into commenting about politics, even

if we have the good intention of evangelizing it but cannot avoid

taking a partisan position, we would be doing wrong and be causing

great harm to everyone.

             Christ himself, living at a time and place where the

political conditions were far from ideal, refrained from making any

comments about politics. About the only time he could be said to have

made a political comment was when he referred to Herod as a fox. (cfr

Lk 13,32) Other than that he was silent and resisted any attempt to

drag him to the political scene.

  

            In fact, he submitted himself to the prevailing laws at

the time, highly imperfect as they were, even if as the Son of God and

our Redeemer, he could have been exempted from them. This was the case

of whether he had to pay the temple tax or not. (cfr, Mt 17,24-27)

             Current Church laws and praxis have always discouraged the

clergy from getting mixed up in political issues. Part of the reason

is the autonomy that temporal matters like politics enjoys and has to

be respected no matter how much we may disagree with certain political

views.

  

            But the other part of the reason is the obvious danger of

alienating some people. Priests, consecrated to be the sacramental

personification of Christ as head of the Church, should always be an

agent of unity and redemption, concerned mainly with the spiritual and

supernatural life of the people.

             Even if we have the better political view, we do not have

the privilege to participate actively in the political discussions.

Even when the issues involved already have direct repercussions on

faith and morals, we should refrain from making comments that can be

interpreted as politically partisan.

  

            The reason behind is that even in the worst scenario,

there is always some good that can be derived from it. If we follow by

our faith, if we follow by the example of Christ, we just have to go

along with whatever political temper there may be at a given time and

place and focus more on what we are supposed to do.

  

            Of course, we as pastors can make moral judgments on

political issues that clearly violate faith and morals, but these

should be done with utmost delicacy and charity.

             In this regard, we should not be afraid to be

misunderstood and to suffer all kinds of persecution, reflecting

Christ’s character as a sign of contradiction. What we cannot do is to

fall into a kind of bitter zeal that would leave charity behind in

pursuit of what we consider to be the truth and the requirements of

justice.

  

            Actually, talking only about God already entails a lot of

things and can demand everything from the clergy. It covers everything

that is of real and eternal importance to us. Preaching the mysteries

of our faith alone is no small matter. This is not to mention that we

have to journey pastorally with the people, both in their collective

and individual/personal aspects.

             All these require nothing less than full identification

with Christ in whose priesthood we participate. The social-action

aspect of the clergy’s work should never be interpreted as a ticket to

get involved in partisan politics.