Over the past several weeks, I have seen a barrage of words and images of the President attacking Pope Leo XIV and the Vice President portraying himself as more educated on Catholic Theology than the Pope. For those of us who are both Catholic and American, and who know our Catholic Faith, this has all been very disturbing and at times, laughable. Catholics need not worry about where our loyalty lies. We will not be choosing between being a patriotic American and a Faithful Catholic. These loyalties are not in opposition, as much as the current administration would like us to believe they are.

Earlier this year, Pulitzer Prize winning historian, journalist, and author Anne Applebaum, continued her podcast series, “Autocracy in America.” This particular installment presented in The Atlantic under the title, “Rise of the Trump Loyalist,” outlines the latest threat to our Democracy through the systematic destruction of the civil service.

Some members of the current Administration have referred to members of the civil service as, “the deep state.” I call them my son, my son-in-law, my sister, and years ago, my FBI Special Agent dad. Throughout the history of our Democratic Republic, Americans with various areas of expertise have joined the civil service through employment at various governmental agencies. We have all benefitted from their patriotic service to our Country. One can certainly argue, as politicians often do, that our government has become too large and too bureaucratic. This is a legitimate topic for policy debates. The point that Applebaum makes is that the goal of Trump 2.0 has not been identifying waste, fraud, and abuse, but rather replacing career professionals with “loyalists”, and their loyalty is not to the U.S. Constitution, as civil servants are required to pledge, but to Donald J. Trump.

Just as Anne Applebaum has been highlighting how authoritarian policies are threatening our Democratic institutions, faithful Catholics have witnessed the growing authoritarian posture, in both words and actions, toward our immigrant brothers and sisters, both undocumented and documented. Catholic doctrine teaches the truth that one’s human dignity is not dependent upon a piece of documentation and we stand against the dehumanization of any person.

Now, it appears this same authoritarian posture is being directed squarely at Pope Leo XIV. On the evening of April 12th, the President of the United States posted a bitter diatribe against Pope Leo filled with lies and revealing the President’s absolute ignorance as to the role of the Pope, as well as the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

This may have come in response to Pope Leo’s message to the Faithful on Saturday, April 11th, during the vigil for peace at St. Peter’s Basilica. In his reflection, Pope Leo said:

Prayer teaches us how to act. In prayer, our limited human possibilities are joined to the infinite possibilities of God. Thoughts, words and deeds then break the demonic cycle of evil and are placed at the service of the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom in which there is no sword, no drone, no vengeance, no trivialization of evil, no unjust profit, but only dignity, understanding and forgiveness. It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive. The balance within the human family has been severely destabilized. Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death. A world of brothers and sisters with one heavenly Father vanishes, as in a nightmare, giving way to a reality populated by enemies. We are met by threats, rather than the invitation to listen and to come together. Brothers and sisters, those who pray are aware of their own limitations; they do not kill or threaten with death. Instead, death enslaves those who have turned their backs on the living God, turning themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol (cf. Ps 115:4–8), to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee.

What are faithful Catholics called to do at this moment with the U.S. President now attacking Pope Leo XIV directly? I am both a Roman Catholic and a patriotic American. Catholics recognize the Pope as Christ’s representative on earth. We do not worship the Pope and our loyalty is to Jesus Christ and the Gospel imperative to love God and love our neighbor. When a Pope is speaking gospel values, quoting Sacred Scripture, and citing Catholic social teaching on what constitutes a “just war”, Catholics are called to listen to his words, study the Pope’s documental references, and pray on our personal and sometimes, communal response.

My first response is to pray. I pray for divine protection over Pope Leo XIV, who has clearly demonstrated in his short papacy that he is a man of deep prayer, fraternal love for all human beings, and highly educated on the Gospel, Church teachings, and world affairs. When he stands in defense of all human life, he is being fully consistent with his predecessors who each recognized the foundational truth that we are all made in the image and likeness of God. Modern Catholic social teaching, drawing on Sacred Scripture, Church Tradition, and the actions of Jesus on earth, apply Christ’s words and actions to current challenges in the world. The teachings are expressed via Papal Encyclicals, Bishops’ Pastoral Letters, and Vatican Conciliar Documents, most specifically the documents of Vatican II.

Our U.S. Constitution protects our right to free speech, but as Catholics we are called to do more than speak out. We are called to defend the dignity of the human person wherever it is under attack, and in THIS moment, real human beings are being killed by our government. Protesters in our U.S. cities have been shot and killed. Detainees in make-shift prison camps in the United States have died due to abuse and/or neglect. Pregnant mothers in detention are being denied basic nutrition and prenatal care needed to protect the growth and life of their unborn children. Children in Iran have been slaughtered by bombs dropped on their school and just last week, the President of the United States threatened to wipe out an entire civilization. As a faithful Catholic, my well-formed conscience leads me to speak and to act in the same manner as our Holy Father is speaking and acting today...by virtue of my Baptism. (Lumen Gentium, No.. 31-33)

These are the lessons I taught my middle school students while introducing them to the themes of Catholic social teaching. They were studying the Holocaust in social studies and as a cross-curriculum connection, I asked them to reflect on how Catholics might have responded differently en masse, had they had the full knowledge and understanding of the tenets of Catholic social teaching; most especially, the life and dignity of the human person. I challenged them to reflect on Maya Angelou’s quote, “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” I asked them to consider what they might do, now that they know the themes of Catholic social teachings, if such an abhorrent political movement arose in their lifetime. We have documentation of where authoritarianism has led throughout history, especially in the 20th century. We know better what to do now. I continue to pray that my former students remember these lessons and continue to form their consciences in this moment in history.

May God protect our beloved Pope Leo from attacks on his papacy. May we all continue to heed his call to pray and work for peace in Iran and wherever human beings are under threats of violence, because it is the same call of our Lord! May we who are Catholic and American, claim our fundamental rights to religious liberty and freedom of speech. Let us each call or write our Senators and our U.S. Representative, challenging them to wage peace, not war. May we all, “take courage” in this moment when authoritarianism is threatening our democracy, and now my Church.

I am a Roman Catholic and an American. I reject both the false patriotism of the current Administration and the false Catholic teachings coming out of the mouth of the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, or the mouths any Catholic who fell for M.A.G.A.

My loyalty is to Jesus and the U.S. Constitution.

No one in America needs to worry about choosing. The only choice in front of me is who I will vote for. I certainly won’t be voting for anyone who believes our loyalty should be to them, or to their erroneous doctrines.

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I believe you can tell the true character of a person, based on who they hold up as “truth tellers” or “leaders”. I feel sad that I know and love people who think Kirk fit that description.

I was not a fan of Charlie Kirk. I found him to be a man of limited education, yet wicked smart in deceiving young people on issues he knows very little about. He made that his “brand.” Name a grievance or an issue and rather than unpack it from a historical or sociological perspective, turn it into hate speech and “othering.” I used to just laugh at his stupidity, back in the day when I was on “twitter.” I grew more concerned over the years when I saw how many young people were eager to hear what he had to say. As a retired Catholic educator, I worried how many Catholic youth were being mislead by him. Talent in attracting followers, is not the same thing as bringing people to truth.

People claim he was willing to “dialogue” with those who saw things differently than him. What Kirk engaged in was not dialogue in order to learn; it was performative in order to own. “Owning the Libs” is not a political ideology; it’s a character flaw. Kirk’s small video clips of those “dialogues” go viral and people think that’s the whole story. It is not. Many educated and courageous young adults have shown up with actual facts, or posed questions he hadn’t considered, leaving him without a response. I’ve seen those videos as well. (Kirk was not the one posting those.)

With all that being said, I can honestly say I never wanted him, or anyone he loved to be on the receiving end of violence. I wish I could say the same about him, based on some of the clips I’ve seen of him since this tragic event.

He wanted people I love, killed.

Now I fear the actual truth tellers and principled leaders among us will be targeted, because we lack principled people in positions of power right now in the United States. That was my warning on social media to friends and family prior to 2016 and 2024; that character matters in our leaders.

I am feeling all the sadness today that a tragic event like this creates in a human being. I abhor violence toward anybody. I will eventually channel that sadness into positive actions, just like I have with anger, or confusion.

I need time though, because right now, in this moment, I have people to love and protect.

The same people Charlie taught others to hate.

(Disclaimer: The subjects I included in my letter to then Cardinal Prevost, were limited to the following: The legislative priorities through the 2024 election, of the USCCB as a whole; The rise of Christian nationalism in the United States; The threats to our democracy from authoritarian actors; The lackluster engagement with the synodal process in my home diocese; and my primary focus…the lack of consistent education on the full scope of issues under the umbrella of Catholic Social Teaching amongst our Catholic youth. This blog contains additional thoughts NOT included in my letter to Cardinal Prevost and therefore his response is not in response to to my additional thoughts. I made no mention in my letter to him, of Bishop Barron as Barron is not my Bishop and it was not pertinent to the purpose of my letter. Also, all issues addressed in my letter to Cardinal Prevost had been presented to my own Bishop in two separate letters within the past 5 years. He never responded.)

Just like our new Pope, I am a lifelong Catholic who grew up in a suburb of Chicago during the reforms of Vatican II. This experience provided me many opportunities to grow in my love for God and in my understanding of the Catholic Faith. Contrary to what Bishop Robert Barron has been quoted saying, our Catholic Faith was not “dumbed down” in that era, at least not in that part of the Country where Bishop Barron also grew up during that time. Indeed, Vatican II encouraged the lay faithful to embrace the universal call to holiness through a reception of the Faith on a wholly human level, that isn’t reduced to an ascent of the mind. People are evangelized through relationship with Christ in the context of Christian community, not through doctrine. Catechesis follows evangelization. Love comes first, last, and always.

I love my Catholic Faith. While still in college, I moved to Florida and upon graduating, I served as a parish youth minister throughout my 20s. I went back to school in my 40s while still raising our five children and I hold a master’s degree in Pastoral Studies. I served as Director of Religious Education and middle school religion teacher at a six parish Catholic school after getting my degree. I am now retired.

I hold a bachelor’s degree in social psychology and this educational background in particular, enables me to understand pendulum swings in both society and in the Church over time. The 1960s brought an age of questioning everything. Rather than seeing this in hindsight as the “adolescent stage” of humans responding to newfound freedoms, both the Vatican and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops took a much more conservative approach to the reforms of Vatican II. In the U.S., Bishops have overreacted to progressive rhetoric from the political left, seeming to forget that a functioning consitutional democracy requires seeking common ground. Following the tumultuous years in America in the 1960s and 1970s, spaces like EWTN, while certainly holding space for some of the treasures in our Catholic Tradition, also unfortunately ushered in an age of what I call, “fundamentalist Catholicism” in the United States. Many church leaders here have convinced Catholics that “secular culture” is bad and we must stand against it, rather than seeing where God may already be working within the culture around us. Vatican II presented a call for the Church to engage with and learn from the social sciences, not reactively oppose that which we don’t understand by engaging in “culture wars.”

Over the past several years, I have grown increasingly concerned at how all this has impacted the stated priorities of the USCCB. Their overwhelming emphasis on overturning Roe v Wade as a legislative priority for so long, resulted in them effectively ignoring our Country’s slide into authoritarian style leadership and Christian Nationalism. Only a few bishops in the United States have called out this trend in the public square. Indeed, it has been given a pass in parishes I have belonged to in my home diocese where I find it painful to attend Mass due to the deafening silence on issues like the treatment of migrants and immigrants in our own communities; the rhetoric towards migrants and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, coming out of the current administraion that parrots the rhetoric in the lead up to the Holocaust; blatant misogyny, bigotry, and racism. (Not to mention the attempts at distorting the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and racism in textbooks in my home State of Florida.)

I believe the USCCB naming abortion yet again as the preeminent issue in the lead up to the 2024 election, even though Roe v Wade had already been overturned, led many Catholics to ignore the growing threat to our Constitutional democracy through the rise of authoritarianism. Now we see daily, blatant assaults against Constitutionally protected due process rights of those residing in the United States. Some have been sent to rot in an El Salvadorian prison with no relief in sight as our President ignores an Order from the Supreme Court of the United States.

Finally, with my background in youth ministry, I have seen a dwindling in youth participation in our parishes over the last few decades. In the parish where my husband and I raised our children and where I served as the youth minister in the late 1980s, we have gone from 45-50 candidates for Confirmation each year, to just 8 this past year. I know through studies on youth participation in religion that our youth are yearning for meaningful engagement on the issues they care about. Our Catholic Faith speaks to many of these issues in our documents! (Care for God’s creation; the dignity of all human life (not only the preborn); poverty; war; antisemitism and racism.)

Our Church’s Social Teachings address all these issues and yet CST, although mentioned in Catholic educational curricula, is not explored indepth unless the religion teacher or catechist has been educated themselves on CST. The themes of Catholic Social Teaching must be introduced to our young people in our religious education programs and in all our Catholic schools beginning in middle school, in meaningful ways. There are excellent age-appropriate curricula in publication that enable our youth to identify attacks against the dignity of human life in the culture around us and engage in meaningful actions of justice, in and where they live. CST it continues to be treated as tangiential in Catholic curricula. When and how did the words “social justice” become taboo in many Catholic spaces? Our Catholic Faith calls us to charity AND justice.

Now that Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected Pope Leo XIV, I do feel a sense of hope that some of my particular concerns will be addressed in the Catholic Church in the United States and in my home diocese. Who better to build bridges of dialague with the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, than an American born Pope? Certainly the choice of the name “Leo” is a nod to the social doctrines of our Church and might spur Catholics to begin reading the documents written by Leo XIII, who is considered the father of modern Catholic Social Teaching, as well as read through ALL the documents that follow through the Papacy of Francis. Our new Pope has already given voice to Pope Francis’ desire for a “synodal” Church, which presents a challenge to those in our Church who may have hoped Pope Francis’ papacy was an anomoly. The Holy Spirit has spoken, indeed.

I will leave you all with then Cardinal Prevost’s response to me, back in November of 2024:

Rome, November 12, 2024

Dear Mrs. Castronuovo,

Greetings to you from Rome.

This brief message is to thank you for your recent letter and your reflections on the challenges facing the Church, particularly in the United States. Let me assure you that I share your concerns, and will continue to look for good candidates for the episcopacy who are able to give witness to the teaching of Jesus Christ, including the full range of issues that we find in Catholic social teaching.

Thank you for your commitment to the Church.

Sincerely in Christ,

Robert Card. Prevost, O.S.A.

Yes, I will be printing this out and framing it!...:)

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I’m writing about this because during this era when down is up and up is down, those of us seeking a path forward that holds true to our values, whether they be through our Faith Tradition or through our commitment to our Country, must form bonds of friendship with those seeking the same. My husband and I met some wonderful people at the Summit. Most are former Republicans who could never get on board with Trumpism. Others, like me, are Independents and tired of the binary choice in our politics.

I know that my Faith Tradition does not fit neatly in either political party, nor should it try to. Unfortunately, many Catholics have been led by some Church officials here in the United States to believe that only one issue truly mattered in the last few elections: abortion. Many Catholics have opted to make names for themselves amidst the culture wars, rather than standing firm for the dignity of all human life, wherever it is attacked. I wonder how long it has been since some of the U.S. Bishops have read our own Church documents.

In the face of binary choices and untenable extreme political positions, many of us seek spaces where character and integrity still matter. I am far from perfect, so I seek to place myself among those who are self-reflective and not so quick to blame “the other” for society’s problems. At the Summit, we heard from a pragmatic governor, a former attorney general of the United States, a former FBI assistant director, a former U.S. prosecutor, as well as members of the center-right blogosphere. All reflected on the rule of law having been the glue that has held our country together, until now. This year, there were many Democrats in attendance as well. I see a coalition building as this was the most attended Principles First Summit to date.

The underlying commitment of Principles First is that we must work to save our Constitutional Democracy and in doing so, never compromise our principles and values while seeking particular policy outcomes. This is why we attended the Summit. The speaker line-up are principled people. I encourage you all to check out their website. They post videos of the panel discussions from past Summits there. I did not agree with everything that was said, and they certainly do not have all the answers, but at least they are asking the right questions.

I will leave you this month with this letter written by E.B. White to a friend. I found it uplifting in this era when bad actors are seeking personal gain via the levers of power in our government:

Stay tuned: In March I plan to reflect on my husband’s and my Camino de Santiago along coastal Spain last September, and my search for “thin spaces.”

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I am a cradle Catholic who has never really had a crisis of faith. I have, however, experienced several crises of my religion throughout the last 25 years. I grew up in the wake of the Second Vatican Council in the Midwest where my Catholic Faith was presented to me in very substantive and meaningful ways: in Catholic school, in parish youth ministry programs, and in young adult retreat programs like TEC: Teens Encounter Christ.

Why my interest in faith and politics? Ever since reading Jim Wallis' book, God's Politics, and further studying Catholic Social Doctrine in my 40s, I realized that the Gospel is political but should never be partisan. How we interpret Scripture matters. How Christianity is understood, presented, and enfleshed in a broken world can either heal or divide. I think many Church leaders in America–Catholic, White Evangelical, and others– have compromised the Gospel narrative over the last several decades while engaging in the culture wars. Meanwhile, many of them have remained silent in the public square on issues that Jesus absolutely addressed and that are integral to Christianity. Whatever happened to, “They will know we are Christians by our Love?”

These are uncertain times, for sure. I believe that any Church's explicit or implicit alliance with a particular political party or candidate, compromises any perceived moral authority in calling out attacks against the dignity of all human life. When many Church leaders closed their eyes, ears, and mouths to one candidate’s rhetoric, behavior, and policy proposals, they gave tacit approval, mislead the faithful, and rendered any official documents on, “faithful citizenship”, ineffectual. Those who remained silent revealed their political bias and we all now see the profoundly negative impact on those living on the margins where followers of Christ are called to be.

I do feel some level of hope in hearing the voices speaking unequivocally now. Cardinal Blase Cupich issued a strong statement upon hearing that Chicago would be targeted first for "illegal immigrant raids." Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso is standing strong against the attempts to shutter religious centers that provide migrants with basic life necessities. And most profoundly, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C., gave a courageous sermon at the National Prayer Breakfast Service in January that has struck a chord with those of us who have been yearning, for several years now, to hear Gospel truth spoken from the pulpit. There has been criticism that the final words of her sermon were directed at President Trump. He, his family, future members of his administration, and members of Congress had come to God’s house. Bishop Budde had no other choice, as a teacher and defender of the Christian Faith, than to speak truth to power in that space. President Trump and many of his supporters have hijacked and distorted that Faith for political gain.

That her sermon has resonated with so many people, as evidenced by it having gone viral on social media, reveals that those of us who know our Faith, know truth when we hear it! That Bishop Budde delivered such powerful words in such a humble and loving way, speaks to her character and her authenticity of Faith! In my past social media posts, I have not been nearly as kind towards particular members of my own Church’s Bishops’ Conference in the United States. I truly wanted, “threats to our constitutional democracy from authoritarian actors” named as the pre-eminent issue in the lead up to the last several elections. Perhaps I missed that? Certainly in 2024, this could have been named as a pre-eminent issue in the new introduction to “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” Instead, they again named abortion even though Roe v. Wade was already overturned. That is all many Catholics needed to see and hear to justify voting for a wannabe dictator.

Democracy is hard, tedious work. We must never seek to enact through autocracy what we have failed to accomplish through democracy. Catholics must never enable a system of government that tries to enact via edict what we have failed to accomplish through effectively loving our neighbor. Were many U.S. bishops ignoring threats to vulnerable people through their silence, because they saw a pathway to enabling further legislation across the country that aligns with Catholic doctrine? How is that not aligning with empire? Advocacy is one thing. Ignoring serious threats to the guardrails that protect our Democracy is another. I learned in Catholic gradeschool, “the end does not justify the means.”

I am cautiously optimistic now that more U.S. bishops are speaking out while witnessing how the politics of hate against the marginalized is playing out. I can’t help but think, though, that it all might be too late. If Congress does not maintain its role as a co-equal branch of government and stand up to President Trump on inhumane orders, will particular U.S. Bishops, especially those with massive social media followings, continue to remain silent? Will their ongoing silence render them complicit in any atrocities that may occur? “Silence is complicity.”

Our country and our world have been down this road before and during those times, prophets and saints have risen to meet the moment. This is a time for each of us who claim to follow Jesus, and especially those with the privilege of the pulpit, to begin listening to the Holy Spirit and ask ourselves, “what might my faith ask of me?”

May we all “take courage” on this path.