Archbishop Chaput talks about Catholics and Priests in the Public Square

Tip of the hat to Whispers in the Loggia for this article by Archbishop Chaput that is in First Things.

It is entitled The Role of the Priest in Public Affairs. It is a good read and actually Priests and politics is just a small part of his article. It is a good read. Archbishop Chaput of course has talked about Catholics in the public Square before. Go see for instance Archbishop Charles J. Chaput's January 11, 2008, presentation in New Orleans titled “Catholic Identity in the American Public Arena” a portion of which is also in First Things.

Let me quote in full the first parts with my comments in red.
Catholic leadership in the secular world belongs to laypeople, not to clergy or religious. The visible role of the priest in public affairs—if by public affairs we mean political affairs—should normally be pretty small.

It’s very dangerous for the Church to identify with one political party. It’s not my business to tell people to vote for John McCain or Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. And while I worked for Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign as a volunteer when I was a young, I don’t think any Catholic should feel comfortable today in either major political party—Democrat or Republican.

I think that last part is very true. As Catholic Republicans or Democrats we should be challenged and challenging our party. However there are some that take this line of reasoning and almost look down on Catholics that are active in the two major parties. Almost like we are lepers while they stand around pontificating about how authentic Catholics is not left , right etc etc and act like we are part of the problem. The line "Catholics are called to be outside party politics" is something you sometimes hear .Chaput clarifies later what he means.

But that doesn’t really get us off the hook, does it? The problem is that the Church teaches moral truth, and truth has obligations for human behavior—including the social, economic, and political kind. The Church is never mainly a political organism, but her witness for justice always has political consequences.

For example, killing unborn children is a form of homicide. It’s a profound attack on human dignity, because all other rights depend on the right to life. It’s not the only important issue facing our country. But it is the foundational one at this moment in our nation’s history. We can’t ignore it. Cooperating in abortion or quietly tolerating it is a grave evil. We can incrementally seek to restrict and eliminate abortion, but we can never accept it as a so-called right. And if that truth inconveniences one or another political candidate, well, that’s their problem.(Thank You)

It’s not the fault of the Church.It is the job of Catholic laypeople to change the thinking of their political party and their political leaders with the tools of their Catholic faith. But it is the job of priests to give people those tools—to form Catholic laypeople to think and act as disciples of Jesus Christ, in a manner guided by the teaching of the Church. Just as Catholic laypeople should be the leaven of Jesus Christ in the public square, so we priests need to be the leaven of Jesus Christ in lives of our people.

Here Archbishop when talking about of duty to change "thinking" is not only saying party engagement is necessary but it is our job. The rest of article is is very interesting and worth a read

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