San Diego’s Bishop McElroy in an undated file photo. “It’s simply preposterous for a priest to suggest that you will go to hell if you vote Democrat,” says the head of the Catholic Church in San Diego. “Jesus was a huge liberal: the sharing, the peacemaking, the struggle against prejudice and hate... Besides, everyone knows there’s no such thing as hell.”

Shortly before Election Day, the bulletin at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Old Town featured a flyer that warned, “It is a mortal sin to vote Democrat,” and that souls that died in the state of mortal sin were destined for hell. The church’s pastor affirmed to the New York Daily News that "he does teach parishioners that they will go to hell if they support Democrats.”

The next week, the bulletin featured an article by the pastor that spoke of the sins that had enslaved America, such as abortion and gay marriage. It also warned against immigrants bent on eradicating "every belief except of their own prophet and god."

Screen cap from the recent San Diego Union-Tribune video about the diocese’s Synod on the Family.

But San Diego’s Bishop Robert McElroy was quick to correct the record. "The poor man, ranting about abortion like it’s the ‘80s, or about homosexual marriage like it’s the ‘90s, or about Islam like it’s the aughts. The world has moved on, and the Church is God’s outstretched hand to the world. Heaven and hell are not about abstract notions of right and wrong, they’re about inclusion and exclusion. Jesus uses the image of being locked outside a house in the dark of the night, excluded from the warmth and communion inside. The church teaches that God desires the salvation of all men — and women — and that’s a pretty inclusive statement. It’s why I’m following Pope Francis and making outreach a central part of my episcopacy. We want to bring people in, not keep them out: whether they’re of a different orientation, a different nationality, or even if they have a different idea about God’s name. That’s not to say we agree with everything they say, but the church has been arguing about stuff since Day One. We’ll figure it all out eventually, but there’s no reason to keep everyone waiting outside in the meantime."

McElroy added, “This is actually a large part of why I called my recent Diocesan Synod on the Family. Much has been made of my reaching out to divorced or LGBT Catholics, people who feel excluded by the church community because of what it says in the Catechism. I tell those people that the church is not the Catechism; the church is a structure built with living stones, witnessing in the world to God’s love and forgiveness. And I’m glad that my words of welcome are being broadcast far and wide. But I also want to reach out to the so-called ‘Cathechism Catholics.’ Those who feel lonely and isolated even as they profess full communion with the church. I want them to know that God’s love extends even to them. I mean, Jesus offered salvation to the Pharisee Nicodemus! How can I do any less?"