Catholic leaders weigh in on US Presidential election

“It takes courage to stand up and be counted against someone like Mr Trump”, writes Editor Michael Kelly

I spent some time last month in the United States where election fever has already gripped the country. Voters don’t actually go to the polls to elect a new president until November 8, but eight months out, the complicated primary and caucus process is working out within both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Short of being indicted over the controversy surrounding her emails, Hillary Clinton appears to be the heir presumptive for the Democratic nomination to replace Barack Obama.

On the Republican side, the picture is infinitely more complicated. Billionaire Donal Trump has taken a decisive lead in early primaries and the momentum certainly appears to be with him. To describe Mr Trump as eccentric would be putting it mildly.

He has provoked controversy with his anti-immigrant rhetoric. He has also been accused of racism and xenophobia for, amongst other things, proposing that Muslims be banned from visiting the US.

Mr Trump’s views are seriously at odds with Catholic social teaching, and Pope Francis has even suggested that someone who holds the views that Mr Trump publicly espoused is not a Christian.

Despite this, Catholic leaders have been reluctant to rally against Mr Trump. Until now.

A group of conservative Catholic leaders have now stepped forward in what appears to be a last-ditch effort to stop Mr Trump from becoming the Republican presidential nominee.

The essay, “An Appeal to Our Fellow Catholics,” was co-written by Princeton professor Robert P. George and St John Paul II biographer George Weigel, and it is co-signed by about three dozen lay Catholics, many of whom are active in conservative academic circles.

Together, they urge Catholics “to reject [Trump’s] candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination by supporting a genuinely reformist candidate”.

Opposition

The article says that the Republican Party has been, in recent years, a vehicle for “promoting causes at the centre of Catholic social concern in the United States,” highlighting the GOP’s opposition to abortion, advocacy for religious freedom protections, stance against same-sex marriage, and belief in “limited government”.

Without naming any of Mr Trump’s rivals, the authors contend that “at the beginning of the current presidential electoral cycle, it seemed possible that further progress in defending and advancing these noble causes was possible through the instrument of the Republican party”.

But with Mr Trump’s ascension, they write, “That possibility is now in grave danger. And so are those causes.”

They say that Mr Trump’s campaign “has already driven our politics down to new levels of vulgarity”.

Several US bishops have condemned Mr Trump’s rhetoric on immigration, but this is the first major organised opposition to him from within the Catholic community in the US.

What impact will the intervention have? It’s too early to say. But it takes courage to stand up and be counted against someone like Mr Trump and his seeming unstoppable momentum. It’s also telling that the writers are noted conservatives who are unhappy that Mr Trump is trying to present himself as their champion.

Is there a lesson for Ireland? Perhaps. One thing that Catholics might reflect on is the fact that those involved are lay leaders within the Catholic community. The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has warned that the Church in Ireland will only have a future if a new generation of “strong and articulate” laypeople can make their voices heard. But, the archbishop has also appeared to be critical of laypeople speaking on behalf of the Catholic community in the media.

Clerical Church leaders can’t have it both ways. They should encourage and support the legitimate lay voice of Catholics within the political sphere.