All eyes will be on Washington D.C. on January 20, as the 60th Presidential Inauguration will take place at the United States Capitol. Political pundits on both sides of the aisle as well as amateur social media critics will all be arguing their divergent beliefs about that day being the start of a wonderful next four years for America to enjoy or the beginning of our country’s demise. As faithful Catholics, we would do well to realize that whether we’re talking about January 20, 2025, or the days and years following, the only truisms we can guarantee have to do with our Savior, not with a politician.
After Donald Trump is inaugurated, predictions range from saying he will “make America great again” to “it’s the end of democracy as we know it.” However, neither of these are facts; they’re just guesses and opinions. You want the precise facts? Here are the only outcomes of which we can be certain on and after January 20:
- Jesus will still be the King of kings.
- Following Jesus remains the only way to Heaven.
- Our salvation is connected with the Cross, not with the government.
- Prayer will continue to work and people can also always turn to the Bible for answers.
- God will be with us always – not just for another four years.
Even though American political battles can usually be framed as moral issues, Catholics are not to look to political parties or government leaders for moral guidance. The position of the Catholic Church regarding any country’s government is that the Church and the local or national political community are mutually independent. The Church respects the legitimate authority of (non-tyrannical) governments, as explained in Matthew 22 when the Pharisees asked Jesus about paying taxes, and He replied:
“Show me the money for the tax…Whose likeness and inscription is this?…Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Likewise, the government authorities and laws should respect the Church (and other religions), giving them the freedom to carry out their purpose. Sometimes the Church and the state share common ground in their pursuit of a more just society. Unfortunately, modern society more often than not sees the Church and state at odds on issues. The best example of this is regarding government-supported killing of innocent lives via abortion.
Ignorant Americans will argue that we have a “separation of Church and state” in the Constitution, and thus, religion needs to stay out of government matters. However, this was never written in the Constitution. That phrase was made famous in a letter then-President Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 to a religious organization. But the actual verbiage in the Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” America was not founded on the belief that religion needs to stay away from any association with the government, but conversely on the principle that the government needs to not force any specific religion on the people.
It is not helpful for society to squelch the voices of the morally-religious. Religious freedom needs to be maintained not just so religious groups can freely practice their faith, but also so religious people can act on their values in public life, whether as citizens or as politicians who write laws and vote on measures.
The Catholic Church in America attempts to instruct and illuminate the consciences of the faithful with its publication of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, a type of “voters-guide” from America’s Bishops that encourages Catholic voters and politicians to argue for and act on matters that defend human life from conception until natural death and respect the dignity of every person as a child of God.
The Bishops remind Catholics that our purpose whether we are electing political leaders, voting for initiatives, or representing constituents when in political office, is simple – promote good and oppose evil. This means we must get involved in the political scene if there are threats to the life of the human person such as human trafficking and threats to the dignity of the human person such as redefining marriage or sex in opposition to God’s plan. The Bishops make special note that the greatest issue for voters and politicians is abortion, which they stress “remains our pre-eminent priority because it directly attacks our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters.”
Catholics should understand the importance of the political process but not idolize it. November’s election results were that President Trump was seen in the eyes of the majority of Americans as the best person to lead our country during this period of upheaval and uncertainty. But even if he does indeed follow through in the next four years to “make America great again,” he is nobody’s savior. This was explained to us in Psalm 146:
“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.”
The psalm goes on to instruct us in whom to place our trust if not in mortal leaders:
“Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners, he upholds the widow and the fatherless; but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever, thy God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!”
Later on in the New Testament, Saint Paul expands upon how it is only our God who can providentially arrange everything for good:
“God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
…If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
…For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In 2007, Pope Benedict reminded Catholics that the political choices faced by citizens and politicians not only affect our peace and prosperity but may also determine the individual’s salvation. In his exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, the Pope maintained:
“Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defense from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one’s children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms.”
This latest presidential election may be behind us, but there will always be more elections, more politicians campaigning, and more initiatives and bills coming up for future votes. Catholics must seek advice from moral voices such as those in Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship more than from propagandized political ads, and then must take the time to form their consciences through prayer and reflection. Only then will they better distinguish between rhetoric and reality, focus more on principles instead of polls, and mark their ballots according to God’s laws and not based on self-interest or party politics.
A PRINCIPAL'S PRINCIPLES FOR PARENTING 
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