Fron National Catholic Reporter
Catholic Group Launches Masses for Donald Trump
A Catholic group that hosted a prayer event for former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in March is now trying to have Masses said for the presumptive GOP nominee before the November election, prompting concern from some priests who say it could politicize the Eucharist.
The well-funded Catholics for Catholics group said the "Holy Masses for President Trump Campaign" aims to have 2,024 Masses said between Trump's birthday, June 14, and Election Day, Nov. 5. A spokesperson told NCR that 92 people from all over the country had committed to request a Mass intention since the project was officially launched on June 19.
Yep said that "the very first Mass of this great Campaign" was offered at the "People's Convention" June 14-16 in Detroit, which Trump attended. The event was sponsored by Turning Point Action, the political advocacy arm of the conservative group Turning Point USA, both founded by activist and former radio host Charlie Kirk.
But Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, a longtime church commentator and columnist for Religion News Service, said the project "prostitutes the Eucharist for political purposes."
"Requests by political operatives that priests offer the Mass for partisan politics is appalling and should be forbidden by bishops whether the request comes from Republicans or Democrats," Reese told NCR in an email interview.
The group is headed by Yep, a former Phoenix diocesan official who has said he spent 14 years discerning priesthood with the Legionaries of Christ. He also was the Arizona state director for the pro-Trump nonprofit CatholicVote during the 2020 elections and treasurer and secretary in 2022 for Blood of Martyrs, a Phoenix group that promoted Fr. James Altman, the LaCrosse, Wisconsin priest removed from ministry for his political and anti-Pope Francis comments.
As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, Catholics for Catholics can endorse political candidates as long as politics is not their primary activity. However, parishes and other religious organizations that are designated by the IRS under section 501(c)(3) are prohibited from participating in political campaign activity.
A 48-page guide on political activity and lobbying from the U.S. bishops' Office of the General Counsel does not cover the issue of whether parishes can say Masses for political candidates.
They (Catholics for Catholics) noted, however, that neither Trump nor Biden should receive the Eucharist: Biden, because his public support for abortion puts him in "manifest grave sin," and Trump because as a non-Catholic he is "outside the one true Faith.
But Catholics for Catholics has been formed to defeat a Catholic Presidental Candidate in favor of a non-Catholic!
I agree with Fr. Reese that having Masses said for a particular political candidate to win is inappropriate, and is an attempt to politicize the Eucharist. It should be forbidden by the bishops.
ReplyDeleteBut having said that, I think people should remember that no matter how many Masses are said, God can't be manipulated. We can pray for an individual, for their health and spiritual good. But praying for the outcome of an election is different, it depends on the free will of millions of people. I don't think God interferes with free will.
"But Catholics for Catholics has been formed to defeat a Catholic Presidental Candidate in favor of a non-Catholic!"
ReplyDeleteYeah, ironic, isn't it? Clear indication that a lot of Catholics are glad people like me are gone and want to put people like Raber on notice.
I think Donald Trump needs all the prayers and masses he can get. My daily prayer during the Trump years was that he stop lying and slandering people, grabbing women who do not want his attentions, and gain the understanding he needs to run the country competently.
Didn't do any good, but maybe God feels that we aren't going to stop flirting with disaster until we get a real good dose of it, probably for another four yrs after November. Sometimes the cure is mighty drastic.
"...maybe God feels that we aren't going to stop flirting with disaster until we get a real good dose of it." That thought has occurred to me as well.
DeleteI don't think God is going to act in a way that rides roughshod over our free will. If Trump is elected, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.
ReplyDeleteFr. Reese has it exactly right.
So if God doesn’t interfere with our free will, why prayers of petition?
ReplyDeleteLike Jean said, one can pray that Trump gains the understanding he needs to run the country competently, if he is elected. We can also pray that people will use the gifts of the Holy Spirit in discerning the decision of whom to vote for.
DeleteIn the Election Novena of 2020 sponsored by the USCCB, all the "intentions" prayed for were essentially either pleas that people voted according to informed consciences or requests for understanding or enlightenment. It would not be a violation of human free will if God knocked Trump off his horse (like St. Paul, although I believe the Bible doesn't say Paul was on a horse) and brought him to some new understanding that would make him the great president that he thinks he is. Or God could bring all Trump voters to an enlightened state and they would freely vote for Biden. The problem for me is that, although such intervention is always possible for God, I don't believe it actually happens. Either God doesn't will it, or there is no God.
DeleteThere are a number of similar quotes about warfare that are apt, but (if it is not apocryphal) one is by Napoleon, who said, "God fights on the side with the best artillery." In the presidential election, God will be on the side of the candidate who gets the votes to yield a victory in the electoral college. (Both Al Gore and Hilary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the election.)
Katherine, praying that trump will govern well is simply another prayer of petition - just like asking God to interfere so that trump loses. Praying that people discern the Holy Spirit before voting is also a petition - but some people are really praying that the HS will “ guide” voters to vote for their preferred candidate.
DeleteI suppose many prayed for Hitler's death. Despite Von Stauffenberg planting a bomb near the Fuhrer, he managed to survive. Hitler was a talented demagogue but not a brilliant military strategist like Napoleon. Perhaps it was a good thing he survived instead of competent German generals running the show. I don't think we are in a good place if either the main party candidates win. Biden is touted as a good man but his support for Israel's genocide is beyond the pale. At the very least, he does not have the mental energy to change course and is merely coasting on prior attitudes and prejudices. He was never a progressive and very much a Republicrat. Trump, of course, is a mutated human, also in mental decline. The two-party system has delivered us to this situation. What I pray for is that people demonstrate in the streets for changes like ranked choice voting and ending our constant wars and our overextended empire games.
Delete"It would not be a violation of human free will if God knocked Trump off his horse (like St. Paul, although I believe the Bible doesn't say Paul was on a horse) and brought him to some new understanding that would make him the great president that he thinks he is. Or God could bring all Trump voters to an enlightened state and they would freely vote for Biden. The problem for me is that, although such intervention is always possible for God, I don't believe it actually happens. Either God doesn't will it, or there is no God."
DeleteI love the comparison to St. Paul's life-changing experience. (The story is told in Acts Chapter 9, btw). FWIW, here's my take on that auspicious occasion: in a sense, Paul had prepared his whole life for that moment of grace, because he was immersed in Judaism and had cultivated a devotion to God and righteousness. That miraculous encounter with the risen Jesus led Paul to change radically, but it didn't "erase" his life's background; his own writings make it clear that he spent the rest of his life working out the implications of what accepting Jesus as his savior meant for his identity. His conclusion seemed to be that to see Jesus in a true light meant seeing the Law and the Covenant in a different light than previously.
We might see the appearances of the angel to Mary and Joseph in that same light: a mystical experience that caused them to re-assess everything - and to which they responded freely and positively.
Such a thing could happen to Donald Trump: a faith-filled bolt of lightning could cause the "scales to fall from his eyes", and cause him to re-assess his entire life in a new light. I think that would be a wonderful thing to pray for.
In theory, both St. Paul and Donald Trump could have those mystical experiences and yet reject the call to a new way of life. We know that's possible because it was something Jesus encountered every day of his ministry, including on the part of those who, eventually, put him to death.
“maybe God feels that we aren't going to stop flirting with disaster until we get a real good dose of it, probably for another four yrs after November. Sometimes the cure is mighty drastic.”
ReplyDeleteIf God is at work in the chaos of human history, then God is a God of surprises!
The surprise of John 23! Certainly, the cardinals that elected him did not envision Vatican II.
The surprise of JP2! Certainly, the cardinals that elected JP1 did not think they would be back in Rome so quickly or that they would elect a such a different Pope.
The surprise of B16! Unlikely that such a conservative pope would alter the future of Catholicism by resigning.
The surprise of Francis! The cardinals who elected him thought that since an insider like Benedict had failed to reform the curia maybe a real outsider could do it. They have gotten a lot more than they bargained for.
The cure of four years of Donald Trump plus a million deaths from Covid should have been "mighty drastic."
Betty and I have returned to going to Mass at Saint Gabriel and Vespers at Saint Nicholas. We have certainly changed; I did see much evidence that anyone else has.
A million deaths! And we may elect Trump again! What stupidity!
God is God of surprises! Both Trump and Biden may not survive until the election. What if God pulled an October surprise and eliminated both of them? Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No!
Would that not be great judgment on our parties and our political system? While I pray for peace, the church, our country, I do not engage in helping God micromanage the universe. I expect a God of surprises.
I agree with you about surprises. I'm surprised we haven't destroyed ourselves with nuclear bombs despite all our efforts to do so. Getting through the Cold War was a real surprise.
DeleteThanks, Jack. My life has been full of surprises, some of them have been things that worked out when I thought they never would.
DeleteThere is a quote attributed to Maya Angelou, "Every storm runs out of rain." Some people have said it was actually a country Western singer who said it. I don't know, it could have been both of them. But in the long term it has proven to be true. It's just that sometimes it needs to happen sooner.
I honestly don't think God intervenes in human affairs, and attributing certain events to what God wants is territory for evangelicals, fundamentalists, palm readers, and people who sell unregulated dietary supplements.
ReplyDeleteI think you can petition God for any number of things, and God sees that you need strength and solace to endure and tries to provide that.
My solace in election years is that it makes Stanley post more. There's God providing me with strength and solace right there.
After the last nine months I would probably agree that God may provide solace and strength. But God won’t interfere with the natural results of a severed spinal cord. My husband will never walk again. God won’t save us from ourselves - so trump will probably be elected and our country will slowly fall under autocratic rule . Our freedoms - religion, speech, civil rights for minorities etc will be curtailed. Minorities especially will suffer. Sadly some of them have even fallen into the MAGA camp. They know not what they do.
ReplyDeleteAlways nice to have Stanley’s observations. I am grateful for all comments here, including indirect - such those who relate the insights from spouses and partners.
Right now I’m praying for the strength to do what is needed to go home - to get us out of the assisted living place we now live in. I have to do it on my own - o help from the sons or other family . Expensive, nice people, both residents and staff, but it’s not a place I can live for the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will be able to go home soon but that you can feel at peace with where you are now.
DeleteThank you Jean. If I was in the same age range ( late 80 s to mid90s) and had the frailty and health conditions of most of the residents here I might be able to be at peace with spending a few years here. But even though I’m old, I am in good health. I am not frail. I have no chronic illnesses and take no regular medications.
DeleteI cannot stay here for long, because my mental health would suffer. I would again fall into a deep depression. I’m still depressed but started coming out of it as my husband’s health got better. I’m grateful to all the Stanford doctors who found the really serious issues and have successfully treated them. My husband is paralyzed and faces some specific risks because of it. But his overall health is actually pretty good. He is 83 but he probably has several good years ahead of him also. I feel trapped here - it actually feels like it’s sort of a high end prison.
If we ever consider assisted living again in the near or far future I now know what questions to ask, and what I need to observe when visiting potential facilities. But after 3 weeks here I know that I can’t stay here. My husband will not stay either. He wants to go home too.
Glad to hear your husband has improved.
DeleteYou're very kind, Jean and Anne. One reason I haven't been posting much lately is that I still can't access through my Iphone. Anyway, I use my personal computer and now I can't find the button to create a post so I'll comment here.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese have not only produced a totally electric vehicle for 12,000 USD but now a hybrid vehicle for 14,000 USD that gets 84 mpg, twice that of my RAV4 hybrid. Even with a 100% tariff, I'd buy that car except the tariff money could then support Israeli genocide.
This country better start figuring out where we are before we can figure out where we're going and with whom we should be picking fights. I wish there were a way to graduate the tariff so that wealthy people would have to pay the tariff and low income people could buy the Chinese car at the regular price.
Here is an interesting interview with Marxist economist Richard Wolff.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/oCNbkXtB2Os?feature=shared
I think we need perspectives like his to get a realistic view of our situation. Either the politicians don't know up from down or they do and they don't want to talk about it.
Maybe God will surprise us by inspiring Biden to follow Lyndon Johnson’s example and give up his candidacy for the presidency?
ReplyDeleteIn the annuals of history, that could become a noble example of putting country and party ahead of his own interests.
The NYTimes seems to think there are plenty of good candidates, especially at the governor’s level. Biden could cite that and encourage the party over the next month to come together to the best two for president and vice-president, and have several other good candidates rally around that team to defeat Trump.
Think of a half a dozen candidate going around the country not criticizing each other but putting their best foot forward and criticizing Trump! Think of Trump having to respond to all those candidates at the same time. He is certainly not going to ignore criticism.
And think of all of the candidates committing themselves to doing that clear through election day no matter who gets the top two spots on the ticket.
Think of what a great contrast such Democratic unity could make with the Republicans, especially the House Republicans!
I suspect a lot of Republicans who have put up with Trump only because they saw the Democrats as worst alternate might decide to throw Trump under the bus in the hope that they might renew their party just as the Democrats are doing.
A landslide victory with Democrats capturing the House and Senate! No contested election.
Biden captures a place in history.
So maybe we should all pray for God to inspire Biden to do the right thing? Not so difficult. Now getting all those aspiring Democrats to come together might be a more difficult problem? The parties are the problem.