A Priest as Mayor by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 21, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 20.

A Priest as Mayor

By Editor

The Rev. P. R. Dunigan was recently chosen mayor of Lapeer, Michigan, and is said to be the first Catholic priest to be elected mayor of an American city. According to the principles of our American Constitution, religion is not to be made a test of office. And in harmony with these principles, there is no reason why a Catholic priest should not be elected to office just as properly as the minister of any other sect or denomination. But there is, however, the pertinent question as to whether a man who is called to preach the Gospel can afford the time to devote to politics. His influence on the political life of the nation should be through the general uplifting power of the Gospel that he preaches. But the minister who fails to sense the all-sufficiency of that power is likely to become possessed with the idea that he can make politics add something to the power of the Gospel. Or he may think that he can use the politics of the State as a medium through which he can present the Gospel. But what a short-sighted view is this of the dignity and the almightiness of that great Gospel truth that should be presented only in the demonstrations of the power of God's Spirit!