TO THE MAJORITY OF WHITE CATHOLIC VOTERS: WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

Daryl Grigsby

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Mt. 5:9)

It appears to be a moment of profound significance for America’s Catholics. Catholics, like everyone else in the world, Protestants, Muslims, people of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish faiths, people of no organized religious tradition, agnostics, and atheists, are still human. As humans, we have a remarkable capacity for courage, transcendence, and compassion, alongside a tendency toward selfishness, indifference, and even violence. Catholics are as imperfect as everyone else, and flaws exist alongside strengths and generosity.

These times mark a pivotal moment in the public face of the Catholic Church. While most people understand the word Catholic to mean ‘universal,’ the original Greek word is more nuanced. Kat’holou’, is interpreted ‘pertaining to the whole.’ More to the point, that phrase is understood as ‘unity-in-difference’, and a sense that individuals are most human when in solidarity with others, even, and especially, with those who are different from us.

Catholics believe in Jesus Christ, the Gospel, the Beatitudes, and the legacy left by saints such as St. Francis and many others. Catholics also adhere to a body of teaching known as Catholic Social Teaching (CST). One of the clearest elements of CST is found in Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. This document was approved by the world’s Catholic bishops in 1965 at Vatican II by a vote of 2307 to 75. The document says, ‘The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially those who are poor and afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish, of the followers of Christ as well.’

Catholics also believe in the Eucharist, the Presence of Jesus Christ in the bread and the wine. Some theologians assert that the bread and wine also represent Christ dwelling among us in the gathered assembly. To that extent, they note the Church is Christ on earth today, offering God’s hope and healing to all in need.

Considering these teachings, I am dismayed that 60% of white voting Catholics enabled the current administration to be in power. It is safe to say that without their vote, Donald Trump would not be president. Can anyone tell me, what in the above Catholic teachings is reflected in the Trump/Vance rhetoric and policies? Political realities can never reflect religious ideals, but there should be some resemblance. I am at a loss to understand how my fellow Catholics looked past the words and deeds of this administration. I don’t even know where to begin; bragging publicly, and on video, that his wealth enables him to grab women wherever he wants, his blatantly inaccurate and racist assertions about hard-working immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, his support for the attack on the US Capitol — and much more — all happened before the November 2024 vote. That brief recap doesn’t express the extent of his racist, bullying, sexist, arrogant, and homophobic assertions and positions.

The daily harm of his actions is beyond belief. Unnecessary global health-related deaths, reductions in US health services, and now a pointless war with Iran. I am on the Board of Leadership Foundations, an organization serving human needs in fifty US cities. Every week we hear of the devastating impact of federal funding cuts in family and health services in poor communities. Brown people with accents are accosted by masked men, children and grandparents are thrown in detention centers and deported without cause or judicial review.

The Pope called for peace on earth, using the same words of Jesus, and now the President ridicules Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social, and his Catholic Vice-President Vance tells the Pope to ‘be careful on matters of theology’ and to ‘stay in his lane.’

I ask my fellow Catholics, where is your allegiance? To a man who bombards us daily with lies and acts of cruelty, or to your Catholic faith. Our Church is led by a man who has given his life to the Gospel and humanity, as a priest, servant of the poor in Peru, bishop, and now Pope. Our nation is led by a man who, by any measure, has spent a lifetime demeaning and marginalizing the poor and vulnerable. Do you stand alongside a man who proclaims, ‘I alone can fix it,’ and ‘the Pope…caters to the radical left’? Or, are you with a man of faith and Pope who follows the one who taught, ‘love one another, as I have loved you,’ and ‘blessed are the merciful…and the peacemakers.’ Which side are you on?

Daryl Grigsby is on the Board of Directors of Leadership Foundations and is the author of ‘Catholics For the Common Good: An Eternal Offering.’ Grigsby is a Catholic convert of 25 years, born in Washington, DC, and currently living in Nevada City outside of Sacramento, California. Daryl is in the Diocese of Sacramento and a member of SS Peter and Paul in Rocklin, CA. Daryl is a published author on aspects of Black history. One of his books, 'In Their Footsteps: Inspirational Reflections On Black History for Every Day of the Year,' features brief sketches on 365 well-known and little-known individuals from history. He has also written articles for the National Catholic Reporter.

First printed by the Union! TheUnion.com, 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley, CA 95945 Permission granted by author Daryl Grigsby.