TORONTO (CNS) Americans elected United States President Barack Obama to fix the economy, not to change American society and culture, said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver. Americans, including Catholics, "gave nobody a mandate to retool American culture on the issues of marriage and the family, sexuality, bioethics, religion in public life and abortion," said Archbishop Chaput. "That retooling could easily happen … but only if Catholics and other religious believers allow it."
Saying he spoke as "an American, a Catholic and a bishop — though not necessarily in that order," Archbishop Chaput addressed Catholics’ responsibility to live out their faith in public life. He spoke Feb. 23 on the campus of the University of Toronto.
Noting the strengths and intelligence of Obama, Archbishop Chaput said Catholics — however enamored by the president’s gifts — must be honest with themselves about some of his policies, including his pro-choice stance.
American Catholics need to remember that political leaders "draw their authority from God" as public servants and are not "messiahs."
"Unfortunately when it comes to the current administration that will be very hard for Catholics," he said. "A spirit of adulation bordering on servility already exists among some of the same Democratic-friendly Catholic writers, scholars, editors and activists who once accused pro-lifers of being too cozy with Republicans.
"It turns out Caesar is an equal opportunity employer," said the archbishop, who wrote the book "Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life."
Archbishop Chaput said that abortion should be a litmus test in politics.
"We can’t claim to be Catholic and pro-choice at the same time without owning the responsibility for where the choice leads — to a dead unborn child," he said. "We can’t talk piously about programs to reduce the abortion body count without also working vigorously to change the laws that make the killing possible."
The archbishop urged Catholics to form and follow their consciences.
"And then we need to take responsibility for the consequences of our vote," he said.
"The separation of church and state does not mean — and it can never mean — separating our Catholic faith from our public witness, our political choices and our political actions," he said, likening such a separation to a married man not acting married in public.
"Of course, he can certainly do that, but he won’t stay married for long," he said.
But Archbishop Chaput noted the U.S. church’s poor job of forming Catholics’ consciences for more than 40 years.
"And now we’re harvesting the results — in the public square, in our families and in the confusion of our personal lives," he said.
Noting that Catholic social teaching expands beyond abortion and that issues such as immigration, health care and poverty reduction demand attention, the archbishop said that the right to life "is the foundation" of every other right and, if it is ignored, "sooner of later every other right becomes politically contingent."
