The noise-to-signal ratio at the USCCB

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 07, 2012

During the past several weeks the US bishops have been engaged in a critical political battle over the HHS contraceptive mandate, and the USCCB has issued a series of strong statements on that subject. Good.

During those same weeks, however, the USCCB has also issued statements on tax cuts and unemployment benefits, the consumer bill of rights, US policy in the Middle East, nuclear weapons, and now agricultural policy. Here I am including only statements released by the episcopal conference. Individual bishops have added their own opinions on public-policy matters ranging from immigration to climate change.

It is not obvious why the bishops feel obliged to speak on all those subjects. Is there a clear “Catholic” position on agricultural policy? No. Are American Catholics united in their views on agricultural policy? No. Do bishops have any special teaching authority regarding agricultural policy? Again, no.

But because the USCCB keeps cranking out policy recommendations, politicians can tune in and tune out, listening to the bishops whenever it suits their own partisan interests. A legislator can tell his bishop: “I might have disappointed you on the contraception mandate, but remember, I was with you on unemployment benefits and on the consumer’s bill of rights. So I was with you more often than I was against you.”

The bishops’ Faithful Citizenship guidelines compound the problem by encouraging both politicians and voters to consider a broad range of issues—some absolutely critical, others relatively minor; some clear moral imperatives, others questions of prudential judgment. Someone who reads the bishops’ statements carefully, honestly looking for guidance, will recognize that some questions take precedence. But someone who has already made up his mind, and combs through Faithful Citizenship looking for ways to justify his decisions, can easily pluck out quotations to cite in defense of his choices.

By speaking so often, on such a wide variety of public issues, the American bishops are watering down their own teaching authority. If they issued public statements less frequently, and confined themselves to important issues on which they could speak with clarity and authority, they would have far more impact. Toward that end, I have two suggestions:

1. On important moral questions, when the teaching of the Catholic Church is clear, a statement prepared by the USCCB should be stamped with a message that reads:

   On this issue, Catholic bishops speak with authority, and the faithful are bound in conscience to follow the guidance that follows.

2. If a statement prepared by the USCCB staff does not qualify for that authoritative stamp, it should not be released.

Update: It seems that I wrote too quickly. As soon as I pointed out that the USCCB issues opinions on too many debatable political issues, a new USCCB statement appeared to give us the bishops’ perspectives on the federal budget, taxation, deficits, welfare, defense spending, housing assistance, foreign aid, job training, tax credits, Pell grants, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Oh, yes, and school choice, which is an issue on which the Church has a clear and distinctive teaching. But most lawmakers probably won't even notice the bishops' comments on the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, because they'll be too busy plowing through the rest of the rhetoric. So another opportunity to make a precise point, on an issue the USCCB could possibly affect, was sacrificed for the sake of a prolix catch-all approach.

Q.E.D.