Bishops to begin work on guidelines on relations with politicians

Published: 2003-11-11

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops have begun work on a set of guidelines for themselves on how to handle relationships with Catholics whose actions in public life are not in accord with church teaching. The goal for the guidelines is to help bishops make distinctions between "respect for the office and approval of the officeholder ... to distinguish between fundamental moral principles and prudential judgments on the application of those principles, between essential substance and tactics," said Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., chairman of a new task force charged with addressing the issue. He explained Nov. 10 during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' fall general meeting that the task force was created after a September vote of the bishops' Administrative Committee, at the request of Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, in response to a new Vatican document on Catholics in political life issued earlier this year. The task force is composed of the chairmen of seven major committees of the USCCB.

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