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Election watchdog group, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed an official complaint with the IRS Monday over a bulletin published by the St Raphael Parish Catholic church in El Paso. As organizations exempted from tax, churches and other houses of worship are prohibited from formally endorsing or opposing any political party or candidate running for public office. The August 5 article in the church’s bulletin was apparently written in response to President Obama’s mandate that Catholic hospitals and universities cover birth control for women employees who want it. The President later attempted to modify the mandate, but the move did little to pacify some Catholics.
In accordance to their faith, Catholics do not support any forms of birth control. The article allegedly urged readers not to vote President Obama in his re-election campaign when it mentioned, “I am asking all of you to go to the polls and be united in replacing our present president with a president that will respect the Catholic Church in this country. Please pass this on to all of your Catholic friends.”
The Diocese of El Paso has admitted the violation of IRS rules in the article and a spokesman for the Diocese said it would instruct the pastor of St Raphael Parish to “re-address” the article in subsequent publications of the bulletin. In response, the pastor of St Raphael Parish himself issued a statement retracting the article but the leader of Americans United said the damage may already have been done. The pastor wrote, “I am recanting the last two sentences from this statement as it was published on August 5, 2012. I apologize and ask for your forgiveness if I have offended anyone. The last thing I wish to do is be offensive to my faith and the faithful.”
The executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rev. Barry Lynn called the message in the bulletin a blatant violation of the law in his letter to the Exempt Organizations division of the IRS. “The language that appeared in the bulletin – an official publication of the church – clearly encourages parishioners to vote against incumbent presidential candidate Barack Obama. Since federal law prohibits tax-exempt, non-profit organizations (including houses of worship) from intervening in elections like this, I believe St. Raphael Church is in violation of the law,” wrote Rev. Lynn.
According to Rev. Lynn, the Americans United organization files 15 to 20 complaints like the one against St. Raphael in a presidential election year.
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