Politics in Church?

Politics in Church?
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Recently, I met someone from another church that was very upset with the Priest that was assigned to their church last year. It seems that the new priest removed prayers for our military at home and over seas from the petitions for prayer during Mass. Since she has a son fighting in Afghanistan, she wanted to find out why the military was dropped from the list. When she asked the first time, the priest told her the office personnel changed it, but upon investigation she found that wasn't true. When she confronted the priest about it, he said he doesn't believe in supporting war and anyone that participates in it.
I have to agree with the lady that this is not a very Christian way of thinking. But the priest was ordained to serve the needs of the church and we have to understand that priests are people too, with their own ideas and beliefs. Then the lady went on to tell me that one Sunday a few weeks ago, the priest instead of a homily on the readings of the day, gave a talk on the importance of "Unions" in our country.

Now this is a little more than what is expected, in that the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, wants us to say the Prayer for Religious Liberty in our country, and has made it clear that the current administration and the HHS Mandate goes against Church Teachings and our beliefs as Catholic Christians. But this particular priest made it clear that he leans toward the liberal side of politics.

The question is, where do you draw the line on preaching politics from the pulpit?

This woman told me that that day was the first time in her life, which is longer than mine, that she got up and left the church without receiving communion. She confronted the priest again and he told her he was not going to change and if she didn't like it, she could join another church! If this doesn't sound like the same thing I spoke about previously, I don't know what does. It seems that the world is fighting hard to bring down the Catholic Church. We can't allow that to happen, and we also can't be joining the ranks of the protestant churches and running off to another church because we don't like something the pastor says.** That's not why we attend.

Our church is our family, we are the sheep and lambs, the priest is our shepherd on earth. They are not perfect, and they are not assigned permanently. We get a priest who is not ideal, we wait, he'll move on. Why should the flock move on? It's our church and our family. We go to receive the Glorified Body & Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he has instructed us to do. We are united through the Body of Christ and become part of the Mystical Body of Christ (1 Cor 10:16-17, 12:12-31; Rom 12:4-8). All of us make up the whole. I don't care what the priest does on his own time, as long as he gives me what I need, the Eucharist, the food Christ gave and continues to give, until the day I am with him in Heaven. (Mt 26:26-28; cf. Mk 14:22-24, Lk 22:17-20, 1 Cor 11:23-25)

I don't want to hear politics preached from the pulpit anymore than the lady I met, but people do need to  understand that what we vote on has a serious impact on our religious freedoms, and if we are truly living our faith, we will try to get leaders in office that are Christians, that believe in the sanctity of life from moment of conception until natural death.  You can learn more about religious liberty on the USCCB website.

I have only one bit of advice, educate yourself, do not make a decision based on "sound bites" from TV, radio, or gossip. Listen to Catholic Radio for lessons on our faith and the impact of our current administration on our Church. Read what the Church says about the HHS mandate, look at what has happened in the last four years, and a decision will be easy.

Blessings
The Catholic Lady ©

** POST SCRIPT:
7/20/2015
As many people have seen over the last two years, what we vote on does indeed make an impact on our religious liberty. Our priests are also influencing their parishes with their own views that sometimes are not the Churches views.
I naturally have to admit when I have to eat my own words but honestly, I can understand the lady's point now. I really, really hate the idea, but I reached a point at which I could not go back to my home church because the priest's attitude toward the women in the church.
I know he is human and is flawed just like the rest of us, but I just can not go on being ignored and swept aside after all the month's, years even, of service to the church. All the times when I didn't have two pennies to rub together and yet, when the church asked, I gladly dropped the pennies into their hands and helped with whatever project they needed.
It is a tough cud to chew. But as I said, I'm flawed as much as anyone. It's my problem now, and I'll work through it, with time and prayer, and hope. TCL