tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post9002834280763357210..comments2024-03-20T16:30:09.690-05:00Comments on The Fifth Column: Catholics and American PoliticsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-42299787203606345222016-10-20T19:25:28.697-05:002016-10-20T19:25:28.697-05:00Steve,
Well, last evening in the last presidentia...Steve,<br /><br />Well, last evening in the last presidential debate Trump made the most pro-life comment we have heard from any major political figure in a long time. <br /><br />Catholic though I am, I do not, by the way, hate Trump, and I do morally support him.<br /><br />Do I support everything he has said? No. Does he have a "position" that ISIS families should be killed? He says stuff, not always well thought out. Not everything that he says adds up to a position. <br /><br />Nevertheless, too, however he may have reacted to the Pope, a Trump presidency would clearly be far better for our religious liberty, whereas a Clinton presidency is clearly a danger to the Church.<br /><br />Moreover, I am convinced that he would be much better for the inner city by re-providing unskilled jobs, and better for working class America generally. <br /><br />I know it sounds incredibly naive, but bear with me for a second. Would it not be possible in the remaining days of this electoral cycle to make Trump the Catholic candidate? <br /><br />What do I mean? Simply, that we got behind him as Catholics. That we made him our guy.<br /><br />On what basis? On the very thin basis that he is more Catholic than Clinton.<br /><br />Yet, if we were manifestly to do so, if we were clearly to put him over the top, would he not be beholden to us? Would he not be more inclined to listen to us, say on tuition vouchers? Does not that make more sense simply as a political strategy than calling him a lout as did Abp Chaput? Where will that get us if he wins?<br /><br />Beyond that though, by making him our guy I mean praying up a storm both for his conversion and for his election. Personally, I am doing just that. <br /><br />He has grave moral faults and a dicey history, granted. So did St. Paul. He's a marginal Christian, granted. So was St. Augustine. What turned them around but prayer?<br /><br />For the Church and for the United States of America, what is to be lost by taking this tack? <br /><br />What would be wrong with such an approach as naive as it may seem at first blush? Do we not believe in the power of prayer? <br /><br />I don't expect that the official church would embrace this idea, but pundits, bloggers, and etc? It seems possible.<br /><br />My email is leegilbert28@att.net<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Lee Gilbert<br /><br /><br /><br />Lee Gilberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15399292611179526836noreply@blogger.com