Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

Putting Christ Before Politics

Leading up to the Solemnity of Christ the King, I prayed a novena that said: “Christ, our Savior and our King, renew in me allegiance to your Kingship. I pray for the grace to place you above the powers of this world in all things. I pray for the grace to obey you before any civic authority. I pray for the grace to fervently bring about your Kingdom in my family and community. I pray that you will reign in my mind. I pray that you will reign in my heart. O Prince of Peace, may your reign be complete in my life and in the life of the world.”

It was a spiritual reminder about the need to place Christ before politics, which is not always easy to do in a secular society that is suspicious of religion. Now that the election is over, I hope it’s safe to talk about politics … but probably not, judging by the acrimony that infects conversations, TV talk shows, podcasts and family get-togethers.

I try to follow the advice of Bishop Robert Barron, who when asked what party he’s rooting for or whether he’s a Democrat or Republican, promptly responds, “I’m a Catholic.”

This year when my neighbors put political signs on their lawns, I put out statues of the Blessed Mother, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Joseph.

Passersby probably think we belong to the so-called “Christian nationalism” movement and want to make Pope Francis our president. (A fear throughout U.S. history was that “papists” took orders from Rome.)

So people wouldn’t get the wrong idea, I put American flags on either side of the Blessed Mother so no one would doubt my love of the land of the free and the home of the brave, and hopefully the land of religious liberty. As Catholics, we should always pray to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States, for the future of our country.

I confess that my wife thought I got a little carried away because I also put a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the living room window and a poster of the Divine Mercy Jesus in the dining room window.

Religious displays are frowned upon in a secular humanist society, and any mention of Jesus tends to make people uncomfortable, but it’s time to let our family and friends know where we stand.

A lot of us tout our faith but try to massage it so it adheres to the Democratic platform or the Republican platform. However, I’ve always believed our faith should inspire our politics, but our politics should not distort our faith.

In the 1940s, French theologian Jacques Ellul recognized the direction the world was taking and wrote a book titled The Presence of the Kingdom about the Kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of man.

“We need to remember that the Christian must not act in exactly the same way as everyone else,” he said. “He has a part to play in this world which no one else can possibly fulfill. He is not asked to look at the various movements which men have started, choose those which seem ‘good,’ and then support them. He is not asked to give his blessing to any particular human enterprise, not to support the decisions of man … If the Christian works with all his might at some human project, he is only a human being like others, and his effort is worth no more than that; but if he accepts his specific function as a Christian, this is decisive for human history.”

In 1925, Pope Pius XI established the Solemnity of Christ the King in response to growing secularism, and in his encyclical Quas Primas, he reminded the world that Christ is our real King, and to him we owe allegiance.

The pope said that “manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics … And as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of lasting peace.”