When priests speak of politics, their words have no value, but they do have the power to influence their parishioners or others within the church. They should not be influencing the people they influence on non-religious matters. Period.
Here in Minnesota, we have a Constitutional Amendment coming on the ballot that will restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. The local Catholic hierarchy has made it very clear how it expects Catholics to vote on this amendment, and has spent a great deal of money on promoting that viewpoint. The Church, officially, is intruding on a political matter, and attempting to dictate, through its influence, who may and may not marry. This is wrong. This campaign is funded by donations of its members, taking in the collection plate and transferred to the arch-diocese. That is wrong. The whole thing is wrong. Don't you agree?
The Church may refuse to marry same sex couples among its members. It already refuses to marry those who are not members. When the organized Church, however, attempts to influence an election, they are attempting to deny non-church-members something. That steps beyond the separation of church and state. Far beyond. In California, when I was a young man, contraceptives were illegal, and could not be sold, without a label saying "for the prevention of disease only." Cross into Arizona, though, and every gas station had condom vending machines. The only reason that law was in effect in California is because the RCC pressured legislators to make it so. It took until the 1970s to rid the state of that religious restriction on contraception.
The Roman Catholic Church may dictate to its members what they may and may not do, and those members will either follow or not follow those dictates. However, the moment it attempts to dictate to others, it oversteps its bounds and should be denied that power. Why should a non-Catholic be bound by the rules of the Catholic Church and why should those rules be part of state law? What is your answer to that?
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