I travel relatively frequently. I don't exactly qualify for frequent flier miles, but I do get around and I have for a number of years. Often for business, sometimes for pleasure. An interesting fact about my travel is that I am often out of town over a Sunday, and, therefore, must find my way to a church. A side effect of this is that I get to see a fair number of Catholic Churches around the country, and I get to see what each community gets out of their parish.

Most of the time, the churches I go to are decent, neither particularly traditional nor particularly "progressive." Sometimes the music choices are pretty good, others are pretty bad (but that's a matter of opinion.) Where the rubber meets the road is when you hear the priest give his homily, or sermon, and that usually gives some insight into the view of the priest vis a vis Catholic teachings. Most of the time, as I said, it's decent and mainly in line with real Catholic dogma.

I had a bad experience in a small town in West Virginia over the weekend, however. Unfortunately, the church in the town from whence my fiancée comes is one of those "progressive" parishes. I'm not sure whether it's the pastor – whose homily wasn't too bad – or one of the lay people who coordinate the liturgy, but there were a few things I didn't care to hear, mainly because they don't fall into Catholic teachings.

In the first case, it's traditional in the US to play a patriotic hymn on major holiday weekends, especially Memorial Day, Veterans' Day, and Independence Day. Most often it's "America the Beautiful" or "America" (also known as "My Country 'Tis of Thee"). More conservative parishes might do "Battle Hymn of the Republic" or "Eternal Father Strong to Save" which are religious songs with Patriotic overtones, rather than the reverse.

Unfortunately, there are those parishes, like the one I attended this past 4^th of July weekend, that play "Let there be Peace on Earth." I have always bristled at playing that song during a church service, not solely because it's more a political than religious song – because the same can be said about "America the Beautiful" for example – but because rather than being a patriotic song, it evokes images of "citizen of the world", "Diversity" (capital "D"), and left-wing pacifism.  It can only be considered a "religious" song because God happens to be mentioned (and only in the context of being our Father) in the middle, the rest of it being a hippie anti-war anthem. ("America the Beautiful", by the way, includes, in each verse, a prayer to God to "shed His Grace" on us, "mend [our] ev'ry flaw", and refine our gold (which I presume means praying that everything we produce is offered up to God, based on the next line).) In any event, I always have heartburn about "Let there be Peace on Earth" being played in a Church Service.

Music aside – though I find the music selections to be a pretty good indicator of the leanings of the parish – there was a slightly more disturbing moment in the Mass that Sunday. The Left frequently and loudly complains about churches that have political messages. I've seen bumper stickers advocating revoking the tax-exempt status of churches that insist on making political statements. I tend to agree with this statement, but what qualifies as a political statement is where the contention lies. To the Left, the Catholic Church's stance on abortion, contraception, homosexuality, irresponsible sex, and other similar issues all constitute "political" statements (never mind that these are significant moral issues, on which a church is not only competent to comment, but it has the authority to make rules.) You never hear the Left complain when a church allows a liberal political candidate to speak at a pulpit, or when people (particularly leftists and blacks) with the word "Reverend" in their title run for high office (a practice that I find particularly offensive. Catholic clergy are forbidden from running for or accepting political office.), or when they speak out in favor of illegal immigration or against the war, or the death penalty, or what have you. 

At a Catholic Mass, there are usually petitions read as community prayers for certain things. Often we will pray for ill or recently deceased persons, victims of large-scale or local disasters, the safety of troops, law enforcement, travelers, or what have you, the wisdom of elected officials (without making any particular points on policy), and other intentions. Usually the general intercessions, as they are called, are pretty standard, though often geared toward the particular community and time in which they occur. At the church in West Virginia, one of the intentions was a prayer that tax dollars would be used for universal healthcare, education, and other left-wing entitlement policies. Issues of faith and morals (abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality) are not political and are very appropriate for a church service. Issues dealing with public policy, particularly how tax dollars are to be spent, particularly when dealing with issues that some in the congregation may not agree with and are not part of the Christian Doctrine (Universal healthcare is not a fundamental moral issue) is not appropriate in the context of a church service.