Below is the body of a recent letter from my Pastor.

This year we have the privilege of shaping our government through the exercise of our right to vote.

We respect the separation of church and state. Both have their rightful autonomy as they pursue their distinct functions. The mission of the Church is the salvation of souls and the Kingdom of God. The mission of the state is to pursue the common good by establishing just laws.

There is a separation of church and state.(ed:see my note below) BUT THERE CAN BE NO SEPARATION OF LAW AND MORALITY; there can be no separation of law and truth, or of law and justice. All human beings are required ethically to pursue Good and to avoid Evil.

The Catholic Church does not seek to impose her religion on anyone. We do not wish to pass civil laws that require praying the Rosary or eating fish on Fridays.

But Catholics have just as many rights as anyone else, and no fewer rights than anyone else, to be guided by our values. If something is true on Sunday, it does not cease to be true on Monday.

We propose those values though reason, logic and philosophy, so that people of any faith or of no faith can discover the wisdom and truth of those values. They do not have to accept our doctrine to accept the validity of our reasoning.

Secular Humanists have been clever to propose to our culture a “Heads I win – Tails you lose” argument. They claim that the separation of church and state means a separation of God and State, or of God and citizenship. That is a false argument!

men and Women of faith built this country. Now atheists seek to take it away or least silence people of faith.

Do not leave your faith outside the voting booth. Truth is truth. People of faith have much to contribute to our nation, as they always have. From its founding, its civil way over slavery and the pursuit of Civil Rights, people of faith have led the way.

Attached is a brief booklet prepared by the bishops of the USA. Please consider it carefully before voting. More information can be found at their website: www.faithfulcitizenship.org

For the record, our Pastor does not tell us how to vote. He does, however, make very clear that we are responsible for our votes and for making choices in accordance with Christian moral values.

For those who are fallen away Catholics, or of other denominations which still bear animosity towards Catholics, let me say that the Church is in transition. As the population of Liberal priests of the last 40 years shuffle on into retirement and final respose, more and more Bishops/Pastors are taking a hard stance on good/evil and encouraging parishioners to become active in conservative social causes.

For example, we have the (several) recent public corrections of leading Catholic Politicians by their Bishops and then just this Friday, ArchBishop Chaput of Denver (speaking as a private citizen) called Obama the “most committed” abortion-rights candidate from a major party in 35 years and also “To suggest – as some Catholics do – that Senator Obama is this year’s ‘real’ pro-life candidate requires a peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse,”

Its a long time coming, but the Catholic Church is beginning to wake back up.

Churches are becoming places where members are still uplifted, sure, but also challenged and, when appropriate, rebuked for both their overt behaviors and also their lack of action. Parishioners are being encouraged to directly seek guidance in scripture during the week and not just on Sunday as well as in prayer.

Note (from above): I disagree with this statement and recently wrote on actions to end this artificial division here: Ending the Separation of Church and State