When the 45th president of the United States of America opined that it would take a rigged election to remove him from office, some people agreed — most people did not. The latter group was validated by the election.
Last week, Congress counted the Electoral College votes cast on Dec. 14 and paved the way for the inauguration of our 46th president. Given President Donald J. Trump’s pre-election certitude, it has been no surprise to see him contest the results of the November election.
What truly is a great surprise is President Trump’s continued support from ranking members of the Catholic hierarchy and prominent Protestant clergy. The “Jericho March” on Dec. 14 in Washington, D.C. in support of President Trump featured a string of evangelical preachers joined by retired Cardinal Carlo Vigano and Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland.
Anti-abortion priest Frank Pavone concluded the modest assembly by recapitulating Trump’s election grievances in a “prayer” that called Trump our greatest president ever.
The terrible sadness in all of this is both religious and political. Politics has always been about partisanship with conflicting ideas about how best to serve the common good. Most disturbing today, however, is disagreement about this core value. This is where religion should play its traditional role.
The central values of Christianity, Judaism and Islam are all quite similar. In the preaching of these values an important cohesiveness is cultivated within the broader community. When religion gets used as a cudgel, as it did in the Jericho March, both political stability and the credibility of religious institutions are severely damaged.
When President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, he will inherit a nation in crisis. In addition to defeating COVID-19 and rebuilding our economy, he will need to be a true healer in the very best sense of this word.
Our nation is severely divided and the forces that want to keep it this way are very formidable. Our second Catholic president will rely on his faith, as he has in the past, to strengthen him against these forces of darkness. Our hope and prayer is that other people of faith will rise to the challenge of assisting him in bringing healing to our nation.
Some of the bloodiest conflicts in history have been waged by people who were convinced that God was on their side. Today, we know that God is bigger than our partisan divides and that we need to move beyond the rancor of the past election.
God is on the side of peace and justice. Our task is to encourage spiritual maturity and understand that we all have a role to play. May this new day bring tranquility to our nation and help our new president become the healer in chief.
Msgr. Paul V. Garrity is the former pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Lynn and the
current pastor of St. Brigid and Sacred Heart Parishes in Lexington.
