Political brawling in the pews of Catholic churches is a sinister new turn in this year's election, as both parties have adopted a new frontline tactic of exploiting religious congregations. Whether it's paid Republican coordinators registering voters after Mass across Ohio, or Democrat Ray Flynn's putting political organizers in every Massachusetts Catholic church, this invasion of spiritual space by politicians is guaranteed to damage the Catholic Church in America. Despite our priesthood dwindling, parishes closing, and a cavalcade of lawsuits nationwide, the Church's greatest challenge may be impending efforts to rip congregations down the middle along party lines.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has explicit guidelines governing political activity in churches. Their Office of General Counsel states, "Catholic organization voter registration or get-out-the vote efforts should not be conducted in cooperation with any political campaign." One of us, attending Mass in Columbus Ohio last weekend, found a voter registration table set up in front of church. The priest gave a brief voter registration pitch during the Mass. Afterward, a voter registration "volunteer" initially evaded questions about who had provided the registration materials. When asked directly whether this was sponsored by the Republican National Committee, she confirmed she was a "Team Captain" from the "RNC Catholic Outreach." Informed that this was against the Bishops' Political Activity Guidelines, she said that the bishop and the parish pastor had given her permission knowing of its Republican sponsorship. She became testy. Soon, another "volunteer," not from the parish, approached and made a scene with terse instructions for us to leave our own church.

Thousands of similar situations will be playing out across the country in the weeks to come. "The Republican National Committee's Catholic Team Leader Outreach," writes RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie on their website, "is working with the Catholic community to ensure that priorities important to Catholics become a reality, …and there's no better way to get involved than through the RNC's Catholic Outreach. Please join our effort today by becoming a Catholic Team Leader!"
These coordinators will make about $25,000 per year for this part-time activity, plus expenses, according to an email from Catholic Outreach Director Martin Gillespie, cited by the National Catholic Reporter in July. Mr. Gillespie's email then adds, "We…want to work with you to identify active Catholic voters throughout the country. In this respect, we need your help in requesting parish directory and membership lists of Catholic groups and associations."

By violating Church rules governing voter registration, and by creating a substantial financial incentive for parishioners to do so, political strategists will create divisions within Catholic congregations while jeopardizing their tax exempt status. Additionally, when churchgoers put a check in the collection basket, they may find themselves targeted by political fund raising phone calls and direct mail. The FCC's "do-not-call" list explicitly excludes political activities.

Some Democrats are no better. Last month, Raymond Flynn, former mayor of Boston and President Clinton's Vatican Ambassador, announced the formation of a national organization called "Catholic Citizenship." According to the Boston Globe, this group also plans to sponsor voter registration drives and weekly updates on political issues "in every parish, among other things." Because Mr. Flynn's effort is not explicitly party-based, he was able to lure tacit approval by the four dioceses in Massachusetts.

Speaking at a church south of Boston in June, Mr. Flynn said, "I don't want to see the Catholic Church become more political, but I would like to encourage good lay Catholics to become more involved in the civic life of their community and country," according to the Boston Archdiocesan newspaper.

By conducting political activities in places of worship that are coordinated at the national level, the parties will turn our churches into political instruments despite the best intentions of individual priests, bishops and parishioners. An arms race of sorts is inevitable, given the depth of mutual moral outrage now, as both parties seek to exploit different churches that most sympathize with their respective viewpoints. How long can it be before all parishes are hostilely divided between Democratic and Republican congregations, both convinced that each is more Catholic than the other? The bishops must step in now and enforce their own rules, if this political schism is to be prevented.
In 1996, Catholic Commentator Patrick Buchanan famously told the Republican National Convention, "There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself." Few took him seriously then, but perhaps he was really the visionary who foresaw partisan blood on the church floor in the Catholic brawl shaping up this fall.

Eric McFadden and Patrick Whelan headed Catholic Democrats groups in Columbus Ohio and Boston Massachusetts.