We think like a lot of Christians, that a Christian should lead us out of moral quagmires, not people like Trump, whom many Christians think is a reprobate. (Just to be clear, Pam and I never thought Trump was a reprobate, but was like a lot of us in need of salvation....but that's for another discussion.)
Our priest seems to think the election is about personality. We think it's about policy.
On Sunday our dear priest, who tries hard to be a good priest, seemed to invoke Revelations 3:16 by inadvertently declaring (through his homily) he was very lukewarm about how to vote this election. After all, the Church doesn't like politicians who promote abortion and all sorts of other sexual depravity as the Democrats are promoting. But then the other choice is a man whom our priest thinks is totally lacking in compassion. Lost in the discussion are the policies, executive orders and laws that Trump has signed since being in office. We're not sure why his political accomplishments don't count, but with some folks (hopefully the majority of folks) they do.
So, we wrote a letter and are sharing it below. If you don't want to read it, here is the bottom line:
God wants to answer the prayers of the faithful to turn our country around from moral depravity, but there weren't any Christian leaders (that Christians would like, like Billy Graham) so God tapped Trump to do the job. Christians complain about Trump's personality, but they should look in the mirror for the source of the problem.
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October 19, 2020
Fr. __________\
_____________
_____________
Dear Fr. _____
I (Stan) watched and heard most of your homily today (Sunday Oct 19) on-line.
You were right to call out the importance of the Right to Life in this election. But you missed an opportunity to reinforce its importance after your condemnation of Trump. You sounded like saving the environment and being polite was as important as stopping abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism (even of children), euthanasia, and wide-spread lying to citizens by "news" media. Really?
This needs some perspective for you to understand. Let's try this.
THE GOD OF JUDGEMENT AND GRACE
When God decided that the cities of the plain in Genesis 14-19 (incl. Sodom & Gomorrah) required destruction for their sexual depravity, he didn't send a polite politician to sweet talk them out of their sin. Nor did he send an evangelist like Jonah to preach to them. God went right to the crux of the matter and sent two angels to utterly destroy them.
But we live in an age of grace, which explains why our country has not experienced a heavenly conflagration of brimstone. And yet in many ways we deserve it. We are surrounded by "legal" depravity far beyond those of the Sodomites. We are in the midst of a moral war of a scope never before imagined in western civilization where homosexuality, transgenderism, euthanasia, abortion are all legal and espoused by many politicians as civil rights and by Catholic leadership by their silence. At the same time, God is also aware that there are far more than ten righteous men and women in the land who pray and fast for its salvation—there are thousands if not millions. We are among them.
So, what is God to do? The people pray, but the depravity looks like Salvatore Dali's painting of hell.
I'll tell you what. God sends someone like Donald J. Trump.
Let me explain it this way.
- Since the Catholic bishops have refused to take a public stand against the evil in our country regarding abortion, religious liberty, Christian worship, liberal policies that hurt the poor; and have chosen instead to be silent (so as to avoid controversy), God has sent a political judge not unlike those of Old Testament times—Donald J. Trump. As long as the bishops (and most priests) refuse to speak out in the public square and courageously fulfill their calling as moral leaders, God has reverted to what people can better understand—verbal judgement of their corrupt and evil values by Trump.
- I doubt that you would have liked living next to Samson who bragged about killing a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. I don’t think you would’ve approved of a Judith pretending to be a whore and then beheading Holophernes. Nor would you have chosen to cheer on King David for killing his tens of thousands, perhaps. Even Trump hasn’t done anything like those “acts of God by the hands of his chosen."
- But like God, Trump has condemned evil and the secular values of a corrupt nation. Did you miss that? Let's try that again. Trump’s assault on all things evil and illegal reinforces that he, more so than our bishops, has been called by God to root out the evil and the corruption which is epidemic in our government and society. Drain the swamp!
- God does not show compassion to the prevailers of evil. He hates those that are in leadership who encourage the killing of babies by the thousands, who commit fraud with impunity and then lie to the public about it, who endorse organizations like Black Lives Matter who have publicly denounced the nuclear family and marriage between a man and woman. Who are they? The media, the Democrats, and many Republicans that care more about their own power and prestige than the good of the American citizens.
- So, God sent a judge who is "like" Himself. Trump hates evil, and he is not compassionate about evil like the Church seems to be. It's about time! Where in the public square are you, or any Detroit priest, or Vigneron on the evil surrounding us? I’m not talking about squirreled away homilies but about seeing you or Vigneron calling out the corruption and evil at press conferences. Shouldn’t that be your job or at least the bishops'? We believe that if the Church had taken moral leadership in this country back in the 60's, abortion would never have become legal. But the bishops are still hiding from controversies and refusing to lead. Vigneron is a prime example.
- And so, since the Church has ignored this responsibility of being salt and light, God found another leader to do it—Donald Trump. Trump isn’t scared of calling out what is wrong. He is fearless, unlike our bishops. This is how God works, isn't it?
- Trump properly denounced his Republican competitors for the 2016 election, because they allowed such political evil in Washington and allowed China to steal from us through the manipulation of currency and disseminating of lies. All those other Republicans tolerated evil and lying, and fraud, and such.
- In contrast, we applauded Trump and still do, because like God, we are sick of the fraud in Washington.
God does not tolerate this stuff, and the Church should not tolerate it, but it does.
And so, God sent Trump. God didn't send a sweet gentleman to war against the satanic purveyors of our age. No other politician could do what Trump has done to turn the tide back to righteousness. He doesn't cave to evil diatribe and fraud like Romney and the Bushes. He fights. He's not a Neville Chamberlain, Trump's more like George Patton who defeated the Nazi tanks across Africa and Europe, and who said, "May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't."
THE COMPASSIONATE POTUS
But God also sent a compassionate Trump. There are literally hundreds of compassionate policies he's instituted but we'll list just a few. (We're voting for just and fair POLICIES; we're not voting for a sweet PERSONALITY.)
Former President Barack Obama instructed public schools that they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with a child's chosen gender identity. Trump revoked this. (NBC News)
- Trump's fight against abortion led him to defund federal programs and international aid to abortion providers. And is ACB’s nomination for JOTSC not an act of compassion?
- Trump's actions to close the border to ILLEGAL immigration is compassionate for those caught up in sex trafficking, illegal drugs, and lost jobs to American citizens. But the border is still open for LEGAL immigration.
- Trump compassionately signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.
- Trump's recent police-reform executive order, the First Step Act, released thousands of people from jail (90 percent of whom were black) and addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.
- Trump created “opportunity zones” which compassionately incentivized private investment into marginalized (black) communities.
- Trump (permanently) increased federal funding to historically black colleges and universities by 17%, a total exceeding $100 million—more than any president in history! Meanwhile, the Obama administration infamously removed a two-year Bush-administration program that annually funded $85 million directly to these prized institutions.
- Trump moving our embassy to Jerusalem was an act of compassion to the Jews.
- Trump negotiating (through Jared) the several mid-east peace agreements between Arab lands and Israel has been an act of compassion to the war-torn people of the Middle East, for which Trump has received THREE Nobel Peace Prize nominations. That is a monumental act of compassion to the Jewish state.
- Trump ordering the assassination of Iranian Qasem Soleimani without endangering others was an act of compassion that saved thousands of lives in Iraq. The toleration of evil is not compassion.
And what has the Church done in the public square to support these programs of his. Anything? (...have they stood up for LIFE from womb to tomb like Fr. Perone? ...have they applauded Trump's Embassy move to Jerusalem? ...have they praised the new alliances Trump has negotiated between Arab people and Israel [TIMES 3!!!]? ...have they denounced transgender operations or males identifying as female, allowed then to have access to Girls' bathrooms and locker rooms AND to legally compete in Girls' sports?)
We do praise you for the courage to open the parish doors, through all stages of Lockdowns, for prayer (with a mask) and for early opening up of the church for Masses and Confession.
Respectfully, but not happy about the Church’s lack of leadership.
Thank God for Trump.
