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21 What are the roles of Clergy, Religious and laity with regard to "partisan politics"? Traditional wisdom and general common sense, with support from Canon Law (or the Law of the Church), assign specific roles for different members of the Church. PCP-II pointed out these roles. "The Church's competence in passing moral judgments even in matters political has been traditionally interpreted as pertaining to the clergy. Negatively put, the clergy can teach moral doctrines covering politics but cannot actively involve themselves in partisan politics. In practice, religious men and women are also included in this prohibition" (PCP-II, 340). But certainly lay people "have competence in active and direct partisan politics" (PCP-II, 341). This general rule is certainly not rigid, because lay people themselves have a teaching role regarding politics, especially in their witnessing to gospel values in the world of politics. Concretely, priests, religious men and women, and lay people, i.e., the Church "must be involved in the area of politics when Gospel values are at stake" (PCP-II, 344).
FAQs taken from CBCP Catechism on Politics
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