Lay Catholics Should Be Partisans. Bishops and Priests Should Not.

In response to my Barron piece, two clerics I respect called me a partisan Democrat. Guilty. The Second Vatican Council makes it clear: lay people should do partisan politics. Prelates shouldn’t.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, who led the U.S. bishops’ conference from 2013 to 2016, speaks at a 2020 demonstration for racial justice as a masked protester raises a sign reading “Black Catholics for Life and Dignity — That’s Why Black Lives Must Matter.”

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