Alliance for regress - Archdiocese of New York's political alliance with Christian Coalition - Editorial

Commonweal, May 21, 1993

Making the enemy of my enemy my friend is an old political temptation - one that is not without its complications and drawbacks. Witness the relationship forged by the Archdiocese of New York with Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition. The archdiocese agreed to distribute the coalition's voter guide through New York parishes for a hotly contested local school board election. In our view, New York's commenting class gave the archdiocese a bum rap for doing so, but we also think a serious error in judgment was made, one that raises question about the degree of politically knowledgeable advice the archdiocese seeks or hears.

The Christian Coalition's voter guide was typical of the genre, asking and reporting the responses of school board candidates to eight questions. Three questions concerned the Rainbow Curriculum (see editorial, January 15, 1993) and HIV/AIDS education. The other five questions concerned basic education skills, parental inspection of instructional materials, school decentralization and funding, and voluntary school prayer.

The archdiocese's decision to distribute the guide clinched media opinion that the Catholic church is now solidly located on the religious Right - the certainty of the conclusion unfortunately being in inverse proportion to media familiarity with real live persons from the religious Right. On behalf of this conclusion many silly things were said during the campaign: That the guide violated separation of church and state. Ditto distribution of the guide in Catholic parishes. Ditto questions asked in the guide.

But what constitutional principle was violated? The Catholic church did not endorse any candidate, nor did the guide itself, nor, for that matter, did the Christian Coalition. Bulletin or pulpit announcements, where made, seemed simply to have encouraged people to vote. And for what it's worth: statements made in other churches, including remarks from the pulpit of Riverside Church by its pastor, the Reverend James Forbes, had they been uttered at Saint Patrick's Cathedral would have brought the wrath of First Amendment hawks and the press down upon the head of Cardinal John O'Connor.

But more must be said. The decision to distribute the coalition's guide, rather than provide a separate one, was made, according to a rather disingenuous explanation offered by the cardinal (Catholic New York, May 6, 1993), by his "goodfriend," Monsignor John G. Woolsey, head of the Family Life/Respect Life Office. The motive, we are told, was to save money. That limps.

All components factored in, the archdiocese made a large mistake. The Christian Coalition is organized under the auspices of Pat Robertson, who holds a distinct ideological position in one political party. He and his coalition have political links to groups and ideas that are at odds with much of Catholic social teaching and certainly with parts of its theology. What the archdiocese and the coaltion do have in common is a conviction about abortion, HIV/AIDS education, and teaching about gays and lesbians in the public schools. There are many New Yorkers who think that sex is the sole focus of the Catholic church's social teaching. Working with the Christian Coalition simply confirms that misperception. The symbolism is false and counterproductive. The cardinal should understand that the public, including Catholics, will not believe that this alliance was forged merely to save printing costs.

The archdiocese would have done better to follow the practice of the Diocese of Brooklyn in trusting that Catholic lay people in their normal political coalitions would organize and support candidates able and willing to raise these questions. Such voices were heard in Brooklyn during the controversy over the Rainbow Curriculum and during the school board campaign; no Monsignor Woolsey was needed to make alliances. And no Brooklyn Catholic had to choose between voting for good candidates and against bad alliances.