Forum Post: keep the church out of politics

When Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, delivered the benediction at the Democratic and Republican conventions, he told reporters that he was there only to pray, not to endorse a candidate.

But back in his very own New York archdiocese, a Catholic parish is distributing an endorsement of Mitt Romney. In last Sunday's bulletin, a parish priest reprinted a letter from former Vatican ambassadors which concludes:
"We urge our fellow Catholics, and indeed all people of good will, to join with us in this full-hearted effort to elect Governor Mitt Romney as the next President of the United States." Please sign our petition on SignOn.org telling Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, to instruct priests in his diocese to stay out of partisan politics.

Cardinal Dolan's constant incendiary attacks on President Obama's health care policies have created a situation in which a priest in his very own diocese thinks it's acceptable to use a Sunday bulletin for partisan politics. If he's serious about staying out of this election, Dolan must instruct his priests to refrain from distributing partisan campaign materials and issue a pastoral letter clarifying that the church is not endorsing Mitt Romney.

Sign our petition to Cardinal Timothy Dolan on SignOn.org now!

The petition says:

Cardinal Dolan, you've said you're not endorsing a candidate, and it's time to show you mean it. Please immediately instruct the priests in your diocese to refrain from distributing partisan campaign materials and issue a pastoral letter clarifying that the church is not making any endorsements.