In theory, Catholic-Americans should be the most important block of voters in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Arguably, no other identifiable demographic group has more numbers and more to offer. Indeed, if we weren’t so divided theologically and culturally, we would not only have the largest number of voters, but we could be the most positively influential voting block of all.
After all, what other voting block is able to bring a worldview which fulfills principles of eternal truths going back to Plato, echoes further the concept of natural law promoted by Cicero, and presents the Truth revealed by Jesus of Nazareth through the Church’s Social Teachings?
But sadly, we are unable to do anything collectively if we remain perpetually divided.
Although many of the divisive trends in our Local Church were wholly foreseeable, such as Catholic influencers seeding confusion and division in order to increase market share, what was not as foreseeable was the speed in which too many Catholics have lost sight of the basic tenets of our Faith. How can the Church fulfill Her mission in American politics if we are fighting each other over what it means to be Catholic in the first place? As the great theologian De Lubac put it, we sometimes need to remind ourselves of Catholic teachings that are the most basic yet somehow elude our reflection as Catholics.
First, Catholics believe in the Holy Spirit. This means that we can neither question Vatican II itself, as one shocking headline of the New York Times purportedly did, nor let any one Catholic influencer assume the authority to root out so called heretics or unorthodox behavior. Believing in the Holy Spirit also entails refraining from reducing the sacred to the secular, particularly when its done to achieve one’s purely political purposes under the banner of “social justice.” As our Holy Father reminded us in a recent weekly audience, if we do not “invoke” the Holy Spirit, the Church “closes in on itself,” in “sterile and exhausting debates, in wearisome polarizations, while the flame of the mission is extinguished.” Following Pope Francis’ encouragement, we Catholic-Americans must regain the Catholic practice of invoking the Holy Spirit above all else.
Second, we believe in the Catholic Church. At a minimum, every Catholic-American should read Vatican II’s Document on the Church – Lumen Gentium. And for those Catholics who speak or write publicly, we are obliged to present God’s Church rather than our own version of Church. Thus, each side of the Catholic divide will have to purify its ranks of the penchant for promoting its narrow version of the Church for its own limited purposes.
Third, we all need to remind ourselves of our Blessed Lord’s dying wish for us to be united in God’s Peace and in unity and in Truth above all else. Every Catholic should reflect deeply and profoundly on our Lord’s High Priestly Prayer in the Gospel of St. John – Chapters 14-18. We would also de well to recall Origen’s ominous warning that “where there is division there is sin.”
Finally, if we Catholic-Americans are to remain true to our Catholic identity and contribute to the upcoming Presidential election cycle, we must more readily embrace the virtue of humility – the mother of all virtues. This will both ensure that individual Catholics understand their appropriate role in the American Church, as well as help us collectively understand the boundaries that the Church has established for our collective participation in the public sphere, as so beautifully underscored and explained in Pope Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est.
And then, once we are intellectually and spiritually disposed, as Catholic-Americans, with guidance from the Holy Spirit, we will be ready to offer our nation what is truly needed. Our nation and our Church deserve nothing less.
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