Pro Ecclesia * Pro Familia * Pro Civitate: Kentucky Parishes Cautioned on Partisan Political Activity

Rich Leonardi links to this story about Kentucky's Catholic bishops reaffirming policies that prohibit supporting or opposing candidates for political office:

With Kentucky’s gubernatorial election campaign in high gear, the state’s Roman Catholic bishops have reminded churches and Catholic organizations of the prohibition against involvement in partisan political activity.

This prohibition also applies to individuals representing the church in their “official capacities,” the bishops of the state’s four dioceses said in a recent letter sent to Catholic parishes, diocesan school superintendents and Catholic Charities directors in Kentucky.

The letter, signed by the four bishops, is a reaffirmation of the state bishops’ 2006 policies on political activity issued by the Catholic Conference of Kentucky.

These policies are being emphasized now, the bishops said, because of the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial elections and the 2008 presidential race, which has already begun.

Also, the bishops noted, “the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is actively pursuing those who violate the law.”

***
The bishops’ 2006 policies and their recent letter mention specific types of political activity to be avoided by churches. They range from publication of certain voting guides to links on church Web sites to political Web sites.

Only voting guide material published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops or the Catholic Conference of Kentucky “may be distributed in parishes,” the policies say. “Other materials, even if they are published by a Catholic organization and seem nonpartisan, shall not be distributed.”

The state bishops said this has been the policy since 1995. “The issues covered in outside voter education material typically do not illustrate the wide range of issues of importance to the church but rather reflect the issue advocacy of the preparing organization, often clearly partisan,” the 2006 policies say.

[More]

Rich opines:

I really hope this reminder wasn't prompted by the success in 2004 of Catholic Answers' "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics", a guide criticized primarily for using the term "not negotiable" to describe the Church's position on core teachings like the right to life and the defense of marriage. Otherwise, they're going to have a hard time reconciling their decision with the "issue advocacy" of another preparing organization:
83. Here it is important to consider what the Synod Fathers described as eucharistic consistency, a quality which our lives are objectively called to embody. Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms (230). These values are not negotiable. Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature (231). There is an objective connection here with the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29). Bishops are bound to reaffirm constantly these values as part of their responsibility to the flock entrusted to them (232).
(emphasis added by Rich)