As the candidates for the presidency of the United States make their final pleas to the electorate before Thursday's election, a bishop in San Diego has warned pastors to avoid getting involved in politics after a leaflet was distributed in a Catholic church claiming people who vote for Hillary Clinton would go to Hell, and that the Democratic candidate is Satan.
Rev Robert McElroy, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, has issued a warning that it is against Catholic teaching to make the claims made in the flyer. "Catholic teaching points to the importance of several major issues in this presidential election year: abortion, poverty and economic justice, the environment, euthanasia, immigration, religious liberty, and solidarity within society," he said in a statement.
"This final issue of solidarity has a particular importance at this moment because the very democratic impulse which is the foundation for our national unity is being eroded by partisan venom and personal attack. In this environment, it is vital that all institutions in our nation participate in discussions about the election with civility and balance. It is particularly vital that religious communities do so," he added.
The insert and article that were inserted into a San Diego parish's bulletin said Catholics were going to hell if they voted for Hillary Clinton and claiming Clinton was influenced by Satan. The insert found at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was in both English and Spanish saying it was a "mortal sin to vote Democrat" in this election, saying Democrats violated major principles on church teaching that Republicans didn't on abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research.
The 30 October bulletin included an article, "Voting Catholic," which made it seem that Clinton is influenced by Satan, saying her plan was to "draw us away from God's teachings regarding the sanctity of life to those of the world and its prince."
These bulletin writings go against IRS regulations that prohibit nonprofit organizations such as churches from backing or opposing political campaigns as a condition of their tax-free status.
San Diego Bishop Robert W. McElroy, in a Nov. 1 speech at the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture at the University of San Diego, said the Catholic Church has long held that "both the church and society are best served when bishops refrain from publicly endorsing or favoring, either directly or indirectly, specific candidates in partisan election."
He said this tradition of neutrality isn't just because of the tax status of the church or a desire to avoid divisiveness within Catholic communities but instead stems from the idea that the "sanctification of the world falls primarily to lay women and men. And it is a core teaching of Catholic moral theology that it is deeply within the conscience of the individual believer that key moral decisions must be made."
The bishop, who has a doctorate in political science from Stanford University, said that in the process of "discerning which candidate will best advance the common good, the prudential decision of each citizen remains paramount. Thus while bishops must teach on principles of moral judgment, and outline key elements of the common good which are at stake in a particular historical moment, they should refrain from favoring particular candidates."
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