In response to disturbing emails revealed last week concerning email conversations between high-level political operatives in this election about how to subvert Church teaching, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is warning Catholics to take this threat very seriously in the upcoming election.

In a statement by USCCB president Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the USCCB, Catholics are being asked to reflect upon one of the most important founding principles of our republic – freedom of religion – and the threats it is facing in the upcoming election.

“There have been recent reports that some may have sought to interfere in the internal life of the Church for short-term political gain. If true, this is troubling both for the well-being of faith communities and the good of our country,” the Archbishop said in reference to a February 2012 email conversation between Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and Sandy Newman, president of the progressive organization Voices for Progress.

In the conversation, Podesta admitted that he formed two dissident Catholic groups – Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good – to help usher in a new “Catholic Spring” in which unpopular Church teachings would be changed.

“As Catholics, we hold onto our beliefs because they come to us from Jesus, not a consensus forged by contemporary norms,” Kurtz continues.

“The Gospel is offered for all people for all times. It invites us to love our neighbor and live in peace with one another. For this reason, the truth of Christ is never outdated or inaccessible. The Gospel serves the common good, not political agendas.”

While encouraging Catholics to be “good stewards” of the precious rights we have inherited as citizens, he tells public officials that they are expected to respect the rights of the people to live their faith without interference from the state.

“When faith communities lose this right, the very idea of what it means to be an American is lost,” Kurtz writes.

“Politicians, their staffs and volunteers should reflect our best aspirations as citizens. Too much of our current political discourse has demeaned women and marginalized people of faith. This must change. True to the best hopes of our founding fathers, we are confident that we can and will do better as a nation.”

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