Are Trump and Pence anti-Catholic?

Last updated on: July 20, 2016 at 5:14 pm by Jacob Lupfer

Are Trump and Pence anti-Catholic? 2016-07-20T17:14:08-04:00 Jacob Lupfer

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Chris Hale, executive director of Catholic in Alliance for the Common Good has a provocative commentary entitled, “Trump-Pence is the most anti-Catholic ticket in modern history.”

It’s clear that winning the Catholic vote is a crucial part to becoming President of the United States.

Donald Trump doesn’t seem to get that.

Hale’s strongest ammo against Donald Trump is the reality TV personality attacking Pope Francis in February for being too compassionate toward migrants.

Trump needs the Catholic vote, and Hale argues that selecting Indiana Gov. Mike Pence hurts Trump in that regard. I don’t think vice presidential nominees matter at all, but I’ll entertain the popular (though incorrect) notion that they do for a moment. Pence is supposedly anti-Catholic because he caved on a religious freedom law that was important to social conservatives, including Catholic bishops. In addition, Pence opposed local Catholics aiding in refugee resettlement. Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin responded that helping fearful, desperate people fleeing terrorism and deprivation “is an essential part of our identity as Catholic Christians, and we will continue this life-saving tradition.” Pence evidently disagrees with His Most Reverend Excellency on that point.

Hale is absolutely correct that Trump and Pence take positions that show considerable contempt for Catholic social teaching. So does Hillary Clinton and whoever she will choose as her running mate. I have argued elsewhere that the Catholic Church can teach us a lot about polarized politics. It’s true that both parties depart from Christian teaching on certain policy domains.

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But I’m uncomfortable with injecting the “anti-Catholic” accusation into the 2016 conversation. I’m willing to be persuaded by evidence, but I don’t think the Republican Party is guilty of anti-Catholic rhetoric and signalling – certainly nothing on the level of what was said and intended by Republicans decrying “rum, Romanism, and rebellion” in 1884.

Even the 1960 election, which pitted Republican Vice President Richard Nixon against an Irish Catholic senator from Massachusetts, anti-Catholic rhetoric and sentiment were not only palpable, but also socially acceptable.

Sure, Trump traded barbs with the pope, plenty of Republican politicians and conservative media figures have said intemperate, unkind things about the Holy Father. Trump’s comments were mild compared to what I have read on sites like The Federalist and First Things and have heard from well-regarded Catholic commentators.

As for Pence, himself a Catholic (maybe/kind of/with caveats), he is certainly out of sync with Catholic social teaching on issues not primarily concerned with human sexuality, but the anti-Catholic label doesn’t make much sense.

Overall, I give Chris Hale the benefit of the doubt. He seeks to engage and sustain an important conversation about Catholics and the 2016 presidential election in particular, and about their uneasy relationship with the two parties in general.

For one thing, Hale is trying to emphasize that Trump/Pence offends Catholic teaching more than other *GOP* tickets. Responses to his piece did not adequately account for his clear understanding that Democratic presidential nominees may not fare much better on this score.

Hale has written previously about how Trump’s campaign is at odds with Christianity, and the present piece ends with an important takeaway:

Christian power is derived from our ability to communicate and practice God’s saving love in the invisible spheres of society. Saying “Merry Christmas” at the department store might win an empty-shell public-relations battle, but it does nothing to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If Donald Trump and Mike Pence and Hillary Clinton and her running mate want to fight for Christian values, then ensure this is a nation that fights for God’s dreams of a place where the last are first, the poor are blessed, and enemies are loved.

Still, for all the very real problems with squaring the Trump/Pence ticket with any religion’s teaching, the anti-Catholic critique misses the mark.

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