In the Church there can be no Right or Left

There is no place in the Church’s teaching for a “right” or “left.” These are creations of our secular political system in the United States and not ecclesial life.

To align oneself along these lines is perilous. There are those who pay lip service to the other side’s “cause” but act angrily when asked to directly do something about it, e.g., social justice heralds who proclaim “I am prolife!” but become angry when they are asked to take direct action or allocate resources to address the injustice of abortion, fearing in some way it would detract from housing or hunger or other matters of justice; or the “prolifers” who refuse to stand in solidarity with the homeless, battered, condemned or disenfranchised members of our society by their advocacy public policy that encourage all of that.

There can be no right or left in the Church. The Church has never been right or left in its teaching. It is the Body of Christ. 

I find no home in either camp. I find my home in the lives of the saints and the writings of the Holy Fathers of our Church, both modern and ancient.

I find my home in Christ, who is quite clear about all of these issues.

We must equally cry out full-throated, “We do the work of Christ. We are united in our mission. We do so joyfully, not with anger toward each other.”