Courtney McGrailDonald Trump capitalised on a perception that his Democratic rival was indifferent to religious concerns, writes John Reid
John Reid
Despite serving a full four-year term in office, Hillary Clinton became the first US Secretary of State not to visit the Vatican in 40 years. That coupled with leaked emails from her campaign team describing Catholic teaching as ‘backward’ led to a perception – real or imagined – that she was indifferent, even hostile towards religious interests.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, sought to seize this perceived weakness and in recent months reached out to issues of concern to Catholics – particularly around religious freedom and pro-life issues.
President-elect Trump established a ‘Catholic Advisory Group’ in September to advise him on issues that are of concern to Catholics in the United States and to allay growing concerns about his candidacy among some in the Church.
Advisory board member Jim Nicholson, who is a former US Ambassador to the Holy See, believes that the Catholic group will have a “very positive effect” on a Trump presidency judging by meetings that the group have had with the president-elect. Mr Nicholson told the National Catholic Register that Mr Trump has been “a very good listener” at their meetings, “asks very good questions” and “heeded the group’s advice” in the lead up to the presidential vote on November 8.
Support
Exit polling in the US indicates that Donald Trump won the vote of Catholics by 52% to 45%, despite polls indicating that Mrs Clinton would win comfortably amongst Catholics. However, Mr Trump’s support was extremely low amongst African American and Hispanic Catholics – a fact that will not be lost on American bishops who have been meeting this week.
Mr Trump’s Catholic Advisory Group identified the following areas which are of special concern to Catholics:
- religious liberty;
- pro-life;
- judicial nominations;
- education;
- healthcare;
- jobs and taxation;
- safety and security;
So, who were the key Catholics who helped Mr Trump hone his message to appeal to the people in the pews, admittedly by a small margin?
Joseph Cella
Mr Cella served as head of the Trump campaign Catholic advisory group. He established the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in 2004 in response to St John Paul II’s call for a New Evangelisation. The event gathers over 1,000 people in Washington DC, each year.
After initially opposing the candidacy of Mr Trump, Mr Cella became a supporter citing concerns about the future make-up of the Supreme Court and the fear that a Hillary Clinton administration would appoint judges who would prove detrimental on questions such as pro-life issues, religious liberty, health care and onerous educational mandates.
Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum is a former presidential candidate. He served as a senator for Pennsylvania from 1994 until 2006. While there, he was a champion of the pro-life movement as well as a fearless advocate for religious freedom in the workplace and for the definition of marriage as being that between a man and a woman. Mr Santorum was initially a rival to Mr Trump during the Republican Party’s primary campaign, but after Mr Santorum bowed out of the contest he became a supporter of Mr Trump’s candidacy.
Francis Rooney
The former United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Rooney, is an Irish-American and a graduate of the prestigious Georgetown University.
A successful businessman, Mr Rooney owns the Manhattan Construction Group which built, among other things, the Cowboys Stadium in Texas as well as the Presidential Libraries of George Bush and George W. Bush. During the presidency of the latter, Mr Rooney was appointed as America’s Ambassador to the Holy See and served in the role from 2005 to 2008. A Republican, Mr Rooney was this year elected as a Congressman representing Florida’s 19th District.
Austin Ruse
Mr Ruse is the president of the Centre for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM), which is a research institute focusing on international legal and social policy with special consultative status at the United Nations (UN). Before founding C-FAM, Mr Ruse had a long career in magazine publishing.
Tom Monaghan
Tom Monaghan is a self-made billionaire who spent his early life in an orphanage run by the Felician Sisters of Livonia after his father died when he was four years, it was there that his Catholic faith was inspired.
Mr Monaghan made his fortune as the founder of the successful and ubiquitous American pizza-delivery company ‘Domino’s Pizza’. Mr Monaghan founded the Catholic Ave Maria University in Florida, as well as the Thomas More Law Centre.
Mr Monaghan also founded ‘Legatus’ which was established as an organisation for Catholic business leaders and whose mission is for its members “to be ambassadors for Christ in the marketplace and to study, live and spread the faith in their business, professional and personal lives”.
James Nicholson
Mr Nicholson is also a former US ambassador to the Vatican, serving between 2001-2005 under George W. Bush. It was perhaps the tensest time in recent decades between the US and the Holy See as St John Paul II trenchantly denounced the US invasion of Iraq as a “defeat for humanity”.
He is credited with keeping relations cordial despite the disagreement, and was rewarded when he was appointed to Cabinet as Secretary of Veterans Affairs serving from 2005-2007.
In regard to the relationship between the Trump White House and the Vatican, Mr Nicholson said: “I think it will be a good relationship. I’m delighted with the Trump victory because it’s a victory for working class people, for underemployed people and unemployed people — people for whom the Pope has great concern. So they have a great amount in common in their priorities.”
Despite Mr Nicholson’s confidence, many US Catholics do feel uneasy about Mr Trump’s election. Church leaders will be conscious of not wanting to associate the Church institutionally with a campaign that has provoked so much unpleasantness and controversy and alienated minorities.
At the same time, bishops know that when they look down in to the congregations on a Sunday morning, many of these are people who supported Donald Trump to be the 45th President of the United States. And just as Mr Trump has a challenge to unite those states, bishops will face the challenge of uniting divided Catholics.