A tale of two conferences

Contrasting the RNC and National Eucharistic Congress

Jul 20, 2024

Good afternoon and happy Saturday. This is a Saturday Post from the Purple Catholic. As the Republican National Convention wrapped up in Milwaukee and the National Eucharistic Congress wraps up today in Indianapolis, I have some thoughts on the two messages of these events.

Tomorrow is the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. At Mass, we will hear readings from Jerimiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians 2:13-18, and Mark 6:30-34.

Here is a calendar for the rest of the week:

Monday, 22 July - Feast of St. Mary Magdalene
Tuesday, 23 July - Memorial of St. Bridget, religious (optional)
Wednesday, 24 July - Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhlūf, priest (optional)
Thursday, 25 July - Feast of St. James, apostle
Friday, 26 July - Memorial of Sts. Anne and Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me

John 10:27

In the news:

A tale of two conferences

a group of people standing next to each other — Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash

I will be mercifully blunt as I share my thoughts on this week. Following last week’s assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, the Republican Party had an opportunity to preach unity, lower the temperature, and expand their party to include others who might disagree with the platform (perhaps they could have included, say, I don’t know, pro-lifers?)

They didn’t do that. Instead, they preached the Republican party’s new platform, based solely on the former president’s MAGA agenda, decried what they perceive as weaponization of the justice system, and evangelized about the country's coming savior.

I remain frustrated and disappointed that the Republican party has removed pro-life language from its platform, effectively downplaying its importance in American life. Recall that the American bishops have repeatedly expressed that defending the right to life is the pre-eminent political priority in the United States.

Eric Trump joined Katy Tur on MSNBC this week and was asked about why the party dropped the pro-life agenda from the platform. He said his father wanted to “stop worrying about the sideshows.”

Ending abortion in the United States isn’t a side show. As I wrote last week, you cannot guarantee a right to healthcare, education, or safe cities if you cannot guarantee the basic right to life.

Some prominent Catholic speakers attempted to defend the new Republican position on X by reminding their followers that it was the Trump Administration that put three justices on the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade. That is true; that is a victory.

But in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the high court didn’t rule that the federal government had no say. It ruled that abortion couldn’t automatically be read into the Constitution, as previous decisions had determined.

I remain skeptical that a second Trump administration will do anything to further the pro-life agenda, based on the statements of Trump himself and that of his surrogates.

Yet many religious conservatives seem to think that the former president is the only person who can save this country. At this week’s convention, speakers used messianic language to describe Trump’s potential return to the White House.

In his speech, former Republican primary rival and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott talked about Satan showing up in Pennsylvania and compared Trump to a lion. The lion of Judah perhaps? (cf: Revelation 5:5)

Now, please don’t mistake my criticism of some of the language about Donald Trump with the credit to God for saving his life. I have no qualms with thanking God for causing the former president to turn his head at that moment.

I do have issues with claiming that Trump is some type of messiah, the only one who can save this country.

A progressive Catholic publication noted this week that there were no Catholic groups at this year’s Republican National Convention. Instead, they were participating in another conference in the midwest at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. That conference was the National Eucharistic Congress.

At this Congress, Catholics from around the country gathered to worship Jesus in the Eucharist. I read Archbishop Allen Vigneron’s homily to pilgrims from southeast Michigan this week and took some of his words to heart.

He said that Eucharistic faith is a “humble faith” and that “The Holy Eucharist is the distillation — the covenant to the 10th power squared. The Eucharist is about everything that is true in the covenant because here the all-powerful, powerless, humbled Christ becomes more humble yet again. He becomes our host; he feeds us, and even more humbly, he makes himself the food. This is the all-powerful, powerless God.”

All week, pilgrims worshiped Jesus, heard inspiring talks about our true savior, and were invited to humbly embark into a deeper relationship with him.

Jesus invites us and calls us to him. He doesn’t coerce. He doesn’t manipulate. But he does encourage.

I want to invite you to contrast the message of humility and encouragement at the Eucharistic Congress with the sentiment of superiority at the RNC.

I understand that political conventions are not religious conferences and that a little bit of “ra ra for our guy” is necessary. But at a time when our country is so divided, we ought not be pointing fingers at the other guy and instead look inwards at our own hearts.

If we are to have a humble faith, as the Archbishop of Detroit described, we must look to see what we have done to better our communities and nation. We must also remember that this world will pass away and that we have one true savior in heaven. Only Jesus can save us from sin and death. Not any political leader or movement.

A tale of two conferences

Contrasting the RNC and National Eucharistic Congress

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A tale of two conferences

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