{"id":499,"date":"2012-07-10T10:05:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/supporters-say-partisan-charge-misses-point-of-bishops-efforts\/"},"modified":"2012-07-10T10:05:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-10T10:05:00","slug":"supporters-say-partisan-charge-misses-point-of-bishops-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/07\/supporters-say-partisan-charge-misses-point-of-bishops-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporters say ‘partisan’ charge misses point of bishops’ efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Denver, Colo., Jul 10, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Critics who accuse the U.S. bishops of \u201cpartisanship\u201d have misunderstood their motives by viewing religious questions in secular terms, supporters of the Catholic hierarchy say.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe media has no quibble at all when the bishops issue a statement questioning some aspects of Paul Ryan's budget, or when they express their support of recent decisions on the part of the Obama administration relating to immigration,\u201d Church historian Dr. Matthew Bunson told CNA.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt's only when the bishops decide to exercise their authority in areas the media disagrees with\u201d \u2013 such as marriage, sexuality, or theological orthodoxy \u2013 \u201cthat the bishops are suddenly 'reactionary.'\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe charge of partisanship has surfaced during 2012 in the fight over the federal \u201cpreventive services\u201d mandate. Created under the federal health care reform law, it is opposed by the bishops for requiring religious employers to provide contraception, sterilization and abortion-causing drugs.<\/p>\n

\tBunson, editor of the Encyclopedia of the American Catholic Church, said the bishops' critics seemed obsessed with judging their actions by secular standards of \u201cleft\u201d and \u201cright,\u201d rather than viewing their words and deeds in light of the Church's non-partisan social teaching.<\/p>\n

\tThere is an element of \u201cselective memory,\u201d he said, in portraying the bishops as servants of a right-wing agenda. In the service of this narrative, critics must ignore important aspects of the hierarchy's public policy work and the Church's teaching.<\/p>\n

\tIn their coverage of the U.S. bishops' religious liberty initiative, the June 21-July 4 \u201cFortnight for Freedom,\u201d outlets like USA Today and National Public Radio suggested that the Church's religious liberty effort could be a veiled campaign against President Obama.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cFeeling Under Siege, Catholic Leadership Shifts Right\u201d was the title of NPR's July 4 story on the fortnight. While acknowledging the Church's concern for religious freedom, the story highlighted the \u201cmany Catholics\u201d who \u201cview the controversial campaign as an anti-Obama move in an election year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOn NPR's website, the story was accompanied by a large photograph of protesters holding signs with slogans such as: \u201cBishops! You don't speak for me!\u201d and \u201cI love the Church, I hate the politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMeanwhile, USA Today's religion writer Cathy Lynn Grossman was criticized for inaccurate coverage of the fortnight's closing Mass at Washington, D.C.'s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tIn her July 4 \u201cFaith and Reason\u201d blog post, the reporter wrote that Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput delivered \u201ca bell-ringing homily on the Affordable Care Act as an enemy of freedom under God\u201d at the national shrine. The sermon, however, made no mention of the health care law.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe've heard from dozens of people \u2013 some delighted, some enraged \u2013 commenting on the archbishop's giving a 'political' or 'partisan' homily, based on your article. That is precisely and deliberately what the archbishop didn't do,\u201d archdiocesan adviser Francis Maier told Grossman in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

\tIn fact, Archbishop Chaput's homily offered a reflection on the higher form of \u201ctrue freedom\u201d\u00a0 which is found by \u201cliving according to God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMaier noted that the archbishop's religious freedom advocacy predates the Obama presidency by several years. But the \u201cbottom line,\u201d he told Grossman, was that Archbishop Chaput \u201csaid nothing at all about the Affordable Care Act or the HHS mandate in his homily, and saying that he did is factually wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tA July 3 New York Daily News editorial, by Catholic Voices USA representative Melissa Moschella, also took issue with the notion that the bishops were putting politics before faith.<\/p>\n

\tMoschella pointed out that the bishops showed themselves willing to criticize the Obama administration's contraception mandate, and to support the administration's position against Arizona's immigration law, on the same principled grounds derived from the Church's social teaching.<\/p>\n

\tShe also noted that the bishops had been \u201cstrong supporters of health care reform from the beginning,\u201d pushing for corrective changes to the Affordable Care Act rather than a wholesale repeal.<\/p>\n

\tWhile \u201cskeptics\u201d may view the bishops' religious freedom advocacy as \u201celection-year political opportunism,\u201d a full account of their actions shows they are \u201cin nobody's pocket,\u201d Moschella argued.<\/p>\n

\tBy Bunson\u2019s assessment, the critics and the media \u2013 rather than the U.S. bishops \u2013 were at fault in politicizing religion.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe bishops represent rightful authority in the Church. By wearing that down, in the public mind, they're able to reduce the effectiveness of the bishops to deal with those issues that are most pressing to the 'progressive' agenda,\u201d the historian observed.<\/p>\n

\tThe end goal, he suggested, was a \u201creduction of the voice of Church in the public square,\u201d particularly in areas where its teaching challenges the prevailing secular orthodoxy.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver, Colo., Jul 10, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Critics who accuse the U.S. bishops of “partisanship” have misunderstood their motives by viewing religious questions in secular terms, supporters of the Catholic hierarchy say.<\/p>\n

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