Fri. 6/2, 8a: What’s the proper role of the Church in Politics? We put this question to Archbishop John Wester, who became the 12th archbishop of New Mexico in June 2015. In Wester, New Mexico Catholics have seen an archbishop who is highly engaged in “political” issues like immigration and education reform such as funding early childhood education through annual distributions from New Mexico’s $16B Land Grant Permanent Fund.
Recently he was singled out by the Albuquerque Journal for also advocating that Santa Fe’s soda tax be passed to fund preK, a directly political stance. At the same time he adheres to the church’s teachings against gay marriage and abortion, praising those who have come forward “to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves”. Bishop Wester has also set about to eliminate the stain of pedophilia from the Church including removing a priest in a very recent case in Los Lunas. Please join host Stephen Spitz and special gues tArchbishop John Wester as we explore the proper role of the Church in today’s world. Produced with the assistance of Roman Garcia and Lynn Schibeci.