Homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in OT (A)

In today’s Gospel the Pharisees once again attempt to trap Jesus. This time the Pharisees, who did not approve of the Roman rule of Israel, asked Jesus if it was lawful for a faithful Jew to pay taxes to the Empire. The point of their question, and therefore of today’s Gospel, is whether or not it is possible to be faithful both to God and to a secular state.

This is precisely the question that has marked the experience of Catholics in America from the beginning of our nation until this very day.

Though the Catholic presence in this land pre-dates the establishment of the United States, for much of the past 232 years our fellow citizens, especially those from Protestant backgrounds, have questioned if Catholics could truly be loyal Americans. Our commitment to democracy was questioned and our loyalty to the Pope in Rome was held suspect.


The sons of Catholic American immigrants answered this question with their self-sacrifice on the battlefields of the Second World War, but little over a decade later, when a Catholic senator from Massachusetts ran for president, the old prejudices remained.

Sadly, John F. Kennedy’s answers to his challengers opened a Pandora’s box for Americans of faith. In defending his religion, and a Catholic’s ability to be president, Kennedy argued that faith was an entirely private matter and he “disavowed the influence of his Catholic faith on his political choices” (Colleen Carroll Campbell)

While this reasoning appealed to many, and Kennedy did of course become the first (and thus far the only) Catholic President, serious Catholic and Protestant thinkers alike were troubled by Kennedy’s argument that “one’s religion and decision-making can somehow be kept in two watertight compartments” (Episcopal Bishop James Pike).

Unfortunately, this is precisely the way that a majority of Americans, including American Catholics, currently understand the separation of Church and state. Many today would like to trap us, as the Pharisees attempted to trap Jesus, by making us believe that one cannot be faithful to God and a secular state at the same time; they would have us believe that faith has no place in the public discourse of a pluralistic society.

Following the lead, sadly, of another Catholic politician, Governor Mario Cuomo, they would have us believe instead, that bringing our faith to bear on our citizenship is an attempt to “force our faith” on other citizens.

But the obligation of democracy is that all citizens bring their opinions to bear on public discourse, and it is simply a fact that no one comes to the public square without an agenda, a worldview and a set of values. “Our nation’s tradition of pluralism is enhanced, not threatened, when religious groups and people of faith bring their convictions and concerns to public life” (Faithful Citizenship, 3).

So, when Catholics work in the public square for the rights of workers, for a just wage, and for the stewardship of the environment, we are not forcing our faith on anyone, we are advancing a more equitable economy and acknowledging the dignity of human labor and of God’s creation.

When Catholics work in the public square for the rights of immigrants and refugees, we are not forcing our faith on anyone, we are helping others experience the blessings of freedom our own forebears came to this country to find.

When Catholics work in the public square to fight terrorism and support principles of just war, we are not forcing our faith on anyone, we are working for the day when all people might live in true freedom and lasting peace may reign.

When Catholics work in the public square for adequate health care and accessible education, we are not forcing our faith on anyone, we are recognizing the dignity of the human person and insisting on equal opportunities for all people.

And when Catholics work in the public square to defend chastity and the institution of marriage, we are not forcing our faith on anyone, we are defending the dignity and stability of the family, the nucleus of all healthy societies.

It is also true that there is one issue that stands out even among this most important list, because it is the issue upon which all these others must be based (Christifideles Laici, 38).

When Catholics work in the public square to end the killing of unborn children through abortion, we are not forcing our faith upon anyone, we are defending the right to life, the right upon which all other civil rights are based, and without which no other rights can matter.


Even many Catholics find this particular teaching to be difficult. While holding that abortion is regrettable, they argue for a “moral equivalence that makes no ethical distinction between different kinds of issues involving the dignity of human life” (Faithful Citizenship, 28).

It’s true that Catholics face many life issues of grave concern: “immigration reform, healthcare, the economy and its solvency, care and concern for the poor, and the war on terror” are all important life issues that demand our attention and action. However, “there are many possible solutions to these issues and there can be reasonable debate, even among Catholics, about how to best approach and solve them.” But let us be clear: these are “issues of prudential judgment and are therefore not morally equivalent to issues involving intrinsic evils” (Bishops Farrell and Vann – 2008).

“No matter how right a given candidate is on any number of other issues, it does not” and cannot “outweigh their unacceptable position in favor of an intrinsic evil.” (Bishops Farrell and Vann – 2008).

That’s why in 1962 Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans was forced to excommunicate three lay Catholics, including a politician, for publicly organizing opposition to his desegregation of the Catholic schools in his archdiocese. Racism is an intrinsic evil, and it was the central civil rights issue of that era.

Since 1973, "the right to life is the fundamental civil rights issue of our time" (Archbishop Edwin O'Brien). “The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life at any moment from conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed” (Faithful Citizenship, 28).

And this is not just a tenet of faith; it is the high founding principle of our nation! We are a nation built upon the belief that “all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (The Declaration of Independence).

Can a faithful Catholic be a faithful American citizen? A Catholic is never a more faithful American than when they are first true to the faith of the Church!

We can be made to feel otherwise. We can be trapped into believing our faith has no rightful place in the public square. We can feel “disenfranchised, sensing that no party and too few candidates fully share our comprehensive commitment” to the dignity of human life.

In turn, we can argue with, or simply ignore the Bishops for articulating these hard truths of the Faith. We can even despair, and fall into the trap of the Pharisees, by thinking that the only way to be faithful to God is to abstain from all involvement in the political realm.

Or on the other hand, we could make a different choice, and “work for a different kind of political engagement:” Rather than being shaped by our attachment to political parties we could be shaped by sound moral convictions. We could work to transform the political parties and the very political system of this country and no longer tolerate being forced to choose amongst candidates and platforms that fail to protect human life and advance the common good.

Brothers and sisters, “this is not a time for retreat or discouragement; rather, it is a time for renewed engagement (Faithful Citizenship, 14). This Mission Sunday can convince us of the truth of our faith, and of the ideals of the American experiment – and it can also strengthen us in our work to spread that truth and to defend those ideals.