The Church and Partisan Politics

Officials of the Catholic Church have unwisely abandoned the abstention from partisan politics that they so rigorously followed in 1928 when Democrat Al Smith became the first Catholic to compete seriously for the presidency of the United States. Catholic leaders, despite the controversy over Smith’s religious sparked by evangelical Protestants, invariably maintained strict neutrality, denying the relevance of religious considerations in the election. Church leaders were wise to refrain from courting Catholic support for Smith, given that Protestants who opposed the election of Roman Catholics to public office argued that the church was an organized political force bent upon dominating America both spiritually and politically. Likewise in 1960, when John F. Kennedy became the second Catholic nominated for president by a major party, the Church steered clear of political controversy.

This year, however, some Catholic prelates have unwisely leaped into the political fray suggesting that John Kerry’s pro-choice policies make him unfit to receive Holy Communion. Of course, the Catholic Church or any religious body has a right and obligation to apply its moral teachings to the issues of the day. However, the Church goes over the line when it uses the sacraments as a club to be wielded against a candidate who in good conscience holds to a contrary policy position. Why single out abortion? Church teachings also condemn the use of contraceptives. Should Communion be denied to all political leaders who support access to contraception – a list that would include most Catholic politicians in the United States? Likewise, the church opposes the death penalty in most cases. Does that mean it should deny Communion to such staunch death penalty advocates as Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania?

Are we at the point that candidates for public office should receive scorecards on Church positions and be denied Communion if they fail to score 100 percent? A commission of American bishops is now considering whether Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should be denied Communion. It reports after the election. The bishops would be well advised to follow the precedent of 1928 and both preserve freedom of conscience and keep the church from establishing political tests for Communion.

Additional analysis of religious controversy in 1928 is presented in my book, Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2000)