Heard on NPR this morning: Catholic bishops and political interference

Does anybody remember the details from a report on NPR this morning that some Catholic bishop was mailing out political advertisements telling the recipients that their soul was at stake in the upcoming election?

I couldn't tell from the report if he was mailing them out only to parishioners, or to the general public.

If he mailed them out to the general public, then that is a clear-cut case of political interference, which is not allowed by a tax-exempt organisation. Massive fines would be in order.

But what if they were only mailed to parishioners? That's not as clear-cut to me. Although if the mailings used dire terms and scare tactics to try to influence parishioners, that would tend to push me towards deciding that that, too, was political interference.

Which sounds like about the size of a diocese. The mailing would have gone out to the registered parishioners at each church within the diocese. So registered Catholics only, not the general public.

And it did sound a lot like electioneering from the pulpit.

But what to do?

Revoke their tax-exempt status?

If not, if this bishop was a rogue, how many rogue individuals must one tolerate before one concludes that perhaps the organisation really IS abusing its tax status?

Allow them to keep their tax-exempt status, upon payment of a hefty and substantially punitive fine, which goes to restitution (i.e. - allowing the opposition equal chance to access all those people)?

I should think. The property taxes would be a bundle, I suspect.

May I suggest you follow the teachings of your founder:

"How can you remove a speck of sawdust from you brothers eye when all the while you have a great plank in your own? You Hypocrit! First remove the plank from your own eye so you may see clearly the speck in your brothers."

Until you remove the plank (sexual harrasement and pedophilia by priests), you have no need to concern yourself about specks.

...has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service about this. I think we should reward good behavior with our philanthropy.

Now.

It'll get buried here in the Lounge.