Religion should not dictate political acts

As a Catholic I have been deeply disappointed by the behavior of my fellow Catholics and some of the Catholic hierarchy in connection with the recent speech by President Obama at the University of Notre Dame.

He was invited to speak by the president of the university, a Holy Cross priest. Clearly he was not invited to showcase or emphasize his pro-choice view on the issue of abortion. He was invited because he is the president of the United States.

Not only did conservative Catholics express their objection with a variety of distasteful signs, but the bishop of Ft. Wayne-South Bend chose to boycott the graduation after attending the last 24. In Louisiana, a Catholic Democratic political adviser, Donna Brazile, has been asked to speak at the Xavier University of Louisiana and the Archbishop of New Orleans has announced that he will not attend.

Now I have no problem with protesters. We all have the right to do it. But didn’t the Catholic Church oppose the Iraq War? Where were all those conservative Catholics when that happened? Where were they when our church played a shell game with pedophile priests? To me this appears to be more of a political act than a profile in courage.

On Sept. 12, 1960, during his campaign for president, John F. Kennedy said, “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act  …”

My how things have changed.

BOB WYNHAUSEN

Sandpoint