Still referencing the abortion issue, Bishop Stowe concluded:
"The pro-life movement claims that it wants more than the policy change of making abortion illegal but aims to make it unthinkable. That would require deep changes in society and policies that would support those who find it difficult to afford children. The association of our young people with racist acts and a politics of hate must also become unthinkable."
Notice how these words unabashedly connect President Trump with racism and policies that embody hatred. They also recognize that many women are driven to abortion by government policies that make unplanned pregnancies problematic.
Now, that brings me to this Sunday's Gospel
reading and to Jesus' words that "No prophet is accepted in his hometown." I
make the connection because dozens of people chose to comment very harshly on
the bishop's op-ed. Instead of dealing with the more comprehensive
understanding of the phrase "pro-life," they called Bishop Stowe vile names,
brought up the pedophilia issue, and defended Donald Trump as God's servant. (I
was surprised that some of the on-line language was actually permitted by the
It was like what happened to Jesus in today's reading. There, the Master himself is pilloried by his neighbors in Nazareth for challenging (like Bishop Stowe) their narrow religious prejudices. When Jesus reminds the people from Nazareth that God cares as much about Syrians and Lebanese as about Jews, they actually try to murder him.
As I said, that proved the truth of his saying that "No prophet is accepted in his hometown." After all, prophets are those who speak for God. They connect God's word to events of the day. And that's what John Stowe did in his op-ed. He made the connection not only between the teaching of Jesus on the one hand and the event in Washington on the other. Echoing Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his Confessing Church, he also used the occasion to denounce Catholic support for latter-day fascism.
In similar circumstances 85 years ago, Bonhoeffer and the German
Confessing Church courageously published their famous Barmen Declaration. It
held that no one professing to follow Jesus could possibly accept Hitler as
their
In response, both Protestants and Catholics denounced Bonhoeffer and the others as traitors. Pope Pius XII would even persist in endorsing Hitler as "an indispensable bulwark against the Russians."
The words of Bishop Stowe seem intent on preventing Catholics in his diocese from recommitting a similar error.
As a long-time Kentuckian and member of the loyal opposition within the Catholic Church, I'm proud of his courage. It's time for Catholics and the rest of us to take Bishop Stowe's words seriously.
Simply put, people of faith cannot support Donald Trump and still be authentic followers of the Compassionate Jesus. We must do all we can to frustrate Trump's policies and see that he is not elected to a second term.
Yes, Bishop Stowe is correct: it's a matter of faith!
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