The challenges of the Catholic Church after the vote in the United States

Share

01 November 2020

In our virtual journey looking for the other America we arrived in Sommerville, in the parish of San Benedetto.

We met Rev. Alejandro López Cardinal, born in Venezuela, but an American citizen.

He is currently part of the Archdiocese of Boston and is a permanent consultant to the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM).

The pandemic in the United States is overwhelming an entire economic system, finding itself dealing with 30 million new poor people.

Immigration, racism and unemployment are some of the issues facing the new President of the United States.

Meanwhile

recently appointed the first African American Cardinal, Wilton Gregory.

Welcomed with approval, he became the representative of minorities in the college of cardinals.

While about 32 million Hispanic Catholics are preparing to vote in this next election, forecasts say that the vote is delicate and the electoral results could change the fate of the country that welcomed them.

But the two candidates still seem not to respond 100% to the principles of the Church's social doctrine: dignity of the human person and the common good.

The Catholic Baiden is "pro-abortion", while the current President Trump is "pro-life", even though many children, guilty of being the children of illegal immigrants, are and remain in prison.

Whoever wins must know, God willing, that the next government will not be a walk in the park.

The pandemic in the United States was an opportunity to expose the hidden poverty in this country.

This has generated what in psychology is defined as the denial of reality, which was then politicized by the current administration which still does not want to recognize the poverty of about 30 million inhabitants.

This is the sociological data linked to this pandemic.

In the United States, the coronavirus has mainly affected the poorest, belonging to the African American and Hispanic community.

These communities generally live in large cities, in overpopulated areas, and this makes disease control very difficult.

Families of four live in confined spaces sharing a single bathroom and this prevents effective control of the virus.

Another community heavily affected is that of Native Americans living in the reserves of Colorado, Utah and Alaska.

Surprisingly, there are also white Americans living in poverty;

the sick are above all those already suffering from pre-existing diseases such as diabetes, hypertension or obesity, but also the elderly, especially those who live in homes for the elderly.

The pandemic has revealed poverty that affects some 12 million people who lack access to education, health and basic goods.

Pope Francis has always said that in savage capitalism and communism the marginalized people are those who suffer the most from the impact of any crisis.

In the United States, municipalities are often used.

The mayors have organized family aid programs by providing an internet connection for the children to study, but also the meals they would receive at school and which are distributed in special centers.

There are also programs that provide free tests for Covid, medical treatment, assistance to those who cannot pay rent or insurance.

This has given great help to the people living in these municipalities but also to those who have no documents.

In my town hall, in Sommerville, help is given to people who have no documents, as long as they really reside in that town hall.

There are non-governmental and non-profit organizations that are doing very well here in Chelsea, but also in other areas.

According to the latest information, Caritas in Boston has distributed about one million tons of food, has guaranteed anti-Covid tests to the most affected communities, the African American, Hispanic and Cape Verde ones.

As we come to the end of today, I want to show you briefly the Refugee Camp in Matamoros.There are several groups & individuals joining together as a collaborative doing amazing work to help the families.Together we make a difference in respecting the life of immigrants / refugees pic.twitter.com/ofaW72yzuI

- Norma Seni Pimentel (@nspimentel) September 28, 2020

Last year, together with an organization that deals with the most troubled population, I went to the border with Sister Norma Pimentel and Michelle Nuñez, a girl of only 25, with a Masters in Business.

On that occasion, the border with Mexico was already closed, people could no longer go to the United States as they did in the past;

first they crossed the border and were captured;

then they began a journey in some reception structures also managed by the border dioceses of San Angelo, El Paso, Las Cruces, San Bernardino and San Diego.

The current Republican administration has instead decided that these people must wait in Mexican territory.

Currently the situation in these places is collapsing due to the presence of these migrants, who live in extremely difficult conditions in refugee camps for a period ranging from two to six months, waiting to appear before the judge.

The situation with the pandemic has worsened because operators can no longer move between one border and another precisely because of the restrictions measures.

The Mexican government has agreed with the current US administration to prevent the passage of migrants from Mexico to the United States.

There have been cases of citizens of Honduras or Guatemala being forced to travel all over Mexico to get to the border, and once they arrive the guards destroy passports to prevent them from going to the United States.

Sister Norma Pimentel has done an extraordinary job in these border centers to welcome immigrants and also guarantee them legal assistance.

After the decision of the current government not to allow entry to the United States, unfortunately, however, the legal assistance that she herself organized for migrants has also decayed, because they are forced to stay in Mexico and are subject to different laws.

Wilton Gregory's appointment as cardinal was no surprise.

What surprised is the timing: it was thought to be scheduled for next year.

This testifies to

interest

in having minorities also represented in the college of cardinals.

Cardinal Elector Gregory is well known in the circles of the Catholic Church, not only for his work as president of the bishops' conference in one of the most difficult moments related to the sex scandal, but also for his way of doing and working for many years as a bishop of Belleville, then as archbishop of Atlanta and now in Washington DC.

I think people feel good about him and his appointment has been perceived as recognition for helping to heal the American Church.

The African American Cardinal managed to activate education, leadership and training projects for future leaders in the lay ministry of African Americans.

His work has involved not only Catholics, but also African-American Baptists, thanks to an ecumenical approach.

His dedication to poor parishes is also known, he loves to visit them and invest time in the people who feel taken into consideration by him.

Especially in the light of all the movements born to fight the injustices that have been committed against African Americans starting from colonization and slavery up to the present reality of this country.

I am an American citizen and they opened the doors for me 18 years ago.

I cannot complain about the treatment I received, but I am white, European, Venezuelan;

my family is of Italian origin and this means that I can blend in with the mainstream of American society founded on freedom.

At the same time, however, being white gives you privileges that neither Hispanics, nor African Americans nor Asians who have a different skin color enjoy.

Being white gives you a different status and this idea has been ingrained in this country since its inception.

Here in the United States the subject of presidential elections is very complex because paradoxically it is a country full of freedom, but there are only two political choices, flawed from the point of view of a Catholic because they do not respond 100% to the principles of the social doctrine of the church. .

The Republicans respond in some places, the Democrats in others but none represent a coherent way for a good Catholic who wants to vote in full conscience.

The theme of the Church's social doctrine rests on two pillars: the dignity of the human person and the common good.

This means defense of life, of the worker, of solidarity, of subsidiarity.

Whoever wins must know that these are the issues under discussion.

After the presidential elections, the Catholic Church needs a conversion in line with the document of Christus vivit, therefore a profound pastoral conversion is necessary, starting from the parish communities at the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church itself.

The hierarchical institution of the American church must learn to be synodal: it is important to walk together and unite in unison to give a voice to those who do not have it.

In these elections the Catholic electorate is more divided.

American Cubans and Venezuelans who have the right to vote choose Trump.

Those who benefit from the DACA or TPS, for the most part, cannot vote as they are not citizens, but their children will certainly vote for the Democrats.

The issue of abortion, which was central in the previous elections, and which remains important in this one too, required meticulous work by those who work in the social justice sector to raise awareness on respect for life.

This does not mean only the opposition to abortion, but also the defense of the unborn child, the weakest, the poor among the poor, the elderly, the dispossessed, etc.

Surely the Catholic vote will be divided between dogmatic Catholics and pragmatic Catholics: the dogmatists, who follow to the letter the theme of abortion as the only content to judge each candidate morally and act accordingly, and then, the pragmatists, who have a broader vision on the value and defense of life.

But more importantly, this division quite explicitly represents the two great tendencies of the American Catholic Church, deeply characterized by the political theme and influenced, no doubt, by the principles of the evangelical churches.

The theme of abortion opens up to other deeper themes such as, for example, what is the concept and experience of the church, of the community of Catholics in two different points of view.

In particular, I pray that everyone votes with conscience, considering the entirety, discernment and freedom.

Here I have to make a mea culpa because not all my brother priests share the same ideas as Pope Francis.

This is a shame because they do not understand the proposals of the bishop of Rome in the North American context and consider it to be of a communist or socialist slant or linked to liberation theology, because they do not know the foundations, the origins, they do not know the entire political theology movement in Latin America, from Rio de Janeiro to Medellin, Puebla or Santo Domingo.

Furthermore, within the Christian community, the Catholic Church is the second, but in the United States there are about 85 million Catholics and this represents about 30% of the population, a percentage that has increased thanks to the presence of Hispanics.

Of these 80 million Catholics, about 50% are Hispanic, the remaining 50% are white Americans and have an average age of over 65, compared to 50% of Hispanics with an average age of 30.

According to some estimates, by 2050 the majority of the Catholic Church in the United States will be Hispanics.