As the venerable rector of Notre Dame Seminary often says “well, there it is.” The Election is over and our future president will be Donald J. Trump. All the arguing, doomsaying, and worrying aside, 100 million people each made their one decision about whom to vote for. A decision they can repeat every four years. Think about that – your vote was a single decision, out of 100 million, that you made one time in four years. How many other decisions do you make? The estimates range from 27 “judgments” (conscious, deliberate choices) to 35,000 decisions every day (including all the background choices, like what word to speak). That means a vote is one decision in about 39,447 (or 51,135,000). Just on that math alone, it should be obvious that who you voted for once in four years cannot be expected to make a big difference.
Which is why I’m saying that now, after the election is over, is the time to be politically involved. The fact is that our society got into this mess in the first place because far too many people reduced their civic duty to a single action every four years, and a surprising number of people didn’t even do that much! No, if your only effort to bring the light of the Gospel into our government and civic society is to cast a well-informed vote, you can’t expect much. It’s just too little influence spread out over too much time. Rather, this nasty election and the no doubt controversial outcome ought to spur us to be zealous about our country in the future. If you’ll allow me, I’ll get very specific about that in a moment.
Apropos to today’s outcome, the Office of Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours contains an exhortation from St. Peter (1 Pt 2:13-17) “Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the [president]… or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the approval of those who do good. For it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people. Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God. Give honor to all, love the community, fear God, honor the [president].” Now, lest we confuse that with total subservience, bear in mind that resistance to evil and the avoidance of sin are loftier duties and always provide the wider context for Christian behavior.
So what does the election of Trump mean for Catholics? We are to honor and obey his legitimate authority as best we can. But we are also to pray for him (1 Tim 2:2) and to “silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.” A part of the president’s legitimate authority is that he must work within a political system that gives power to its citizens and to other bodies within the government.
Cooperating within that authority, our effort to “do good” can and in fact ought to look like actively opposing wicked policies advocated by the president. With President-Elect Donald Trump, we can be pretty specific about how to “do good” while still “honoring” him. I was prepared to write this same article for whoever won this election, so do not think I’m a partisan.
To all American Catholics I present these concerns. I am staying away from economics and other matters of prudential judgment. The issues I present here are grounded in principles of moral theology, not political ideology
– We should be vocal and persistent about holding Trump to his promises regarding abortion and religious freedom. Now that he is elected, there is no pressure keeping him concerned with our cause – we should recreate and maintain that pressure in other ways (letters, advertising, advocacy, etc.).
– We should be deliberate about putting forward a positive and pro-woman image for the pro-life cause and for Christianity, especially since Trump has talked about punishing women for abortion and generally creates a negative image for pro-lifers and the Christians who supported him.
– We should be prepared to denounce any and all perverse and predatory behavior (sexual or otherwise) exhibited or defended by our next president. When and how is a matter of prudence, but nothing excuses or justifies the violation of a woman’s dignity. We certainly shouldn’t defend or dismiss such behaviors.
-We should be willing to fight for the fair and humane treatment of immigrants – even if there are grounds for deportation, they have rights that transcend our boundaries and these must be respected.
-We should be prepared to resist and advocate against any policies which utilize a blanket condemnation of an entire religion – such discrimination cannot be justified on the grounds of exceedingly small statistical possibility. Yes, we can and should be careful about how we accept immigrants and refugees, but extremism in either direction is wrong. On top of that, our religious beliefs about sexuality and other social concerns are not far from Islam – it is not a big step from banning Muslims to banning Catholics.
– We should advocate against the use of torture or the committing of war crimes, both of which were promised by Trump in his campaign.
– Above all, we must be charitable toward our neighbors. This means not gloating over supporters of Clinton and it means seeking to serve those in our own community. I already pointed out the mathematics of it, but a single decision to vote is not enough to help our culture. What can help this country is millions of individual Christians taking an active role in their respective local communities and building up the Kingdom of God in the only way we can: by personal relationships, witness, and a daily commitment to the common good.
In the words of Padre Pio, “pray, hope, and don’t worry.”And remember, no matter who is president and no matter what happens, Christ is King!