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<p>thought That Phil's email would be relevant to our discussion<br>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Subject:
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<td>what the Catholic Church needs after Trump</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Date: </th>
<td>Thu, 7 Jan 2021 14:26:22 -0800</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">From: </th>
<td>Phil Little <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sacolargo@gmail.com"><sacolargo@gmail.com></a></td>
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<div class="gmail-date">
07 January 2021, The Tablet
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<h1>
Truth and reconciliation – what the Catholic Church needs
after Trump
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by
<a
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<p>
<font size="4">Donald Trump arrives at Orlando
International Airport for a visit to St Andrew's
Catholic School in 2017.
<br>
<span>Joe Burbank/PA</span>
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<p><font size="4">Just before he was elected Pope in 2005,
Benedict XVI issued a warning about the “dictatorship of
relativism” which refuses to “recognise anything as
definitive”. The truth, his argument went, cannot be
tossed aside with every passing wind of doctrine. Those
words now seem prophetic when read in light of the <a
href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/13731/cardinal-gregory-we-should-feel-violated-"
moz-do-not-send="true">attack</a> on the United States’
congress by a group of <a
href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/13730/us-bishops-pray-for-peace-as-capitol-under-siege"
moz-do-not-send="true">Donald Trump supporters</a>. </font></p>
<p><font size="4"><a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/06/us/trump-mob-capitol-building.html"
target="_blank" rel="noopener" moz-do-not-send="true">The
incident</a> in Washington DC was the culmination of
years of polarisation and divisions, so much of it fuelled
by social media where people increasingly live in their
own information ecosystems. In the echo chamber which is
the dictatorship of relativism, people are unable to find
common ground with those whom they disagree or even see
objective truth. Believe what you want to believe, and
make the truth what you want it to be. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">This has had catastrophic consequences for
Trump supporters. For months, they have been fed a
relentless diet of misinformation that the election was
stolen from their president. The baseless claims are
without evidence and have been rejected by every court who
has examined them. Yet the Trump mob which invaded the
heart of American democracy, egged on by an irresponsible
president, continue to believe the claims to be true. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">For a Christian – and a Catholic – a
dictatorship of relativism must be resisted. More needs to
be done by the Church to tackle the pandemic of
misinformation which is infecting the Body of Christ. It
has been profoundly disturbing to witness the large
numbers of Christians throwing themselves behind the Trump
cause while some Catholics even became tightly connected
with the group which carried out the insurrection. The
shocking events on 6 January mean that action is needed to
bring about some kind of reconciliation within the Church
following this episode. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">Two days before the violence was carried
out, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former papal
ambassador to the United States, gave an interview to
Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Viganò
spoke about the “overwhelming evidence of irregularities
that has emerged in several states” and that “those who
fight courageously to defend the rights of God, the
Nation, and the Family, the Lord assures his protection”.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Archbishop Viganò has become the personal
chaplain to hardcore Trump supporters, and has entwined
his message with the worldview of QAnon, the dangerous
conspiracy theory labelled domestic terrorism by the FBI.
Archbishop Viganò must bear some responsibility in setting
the stage for what happened in Washington DC. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">Support for Trump's MAGA agenda doesn’t just
exist on the fringe. Last month, Cardinal George Pell, the
Vatican’s former treasurer, described Trump as “a bit of a
barbarian, but in some important ways, he is ‘our’
barbarian” while several US bishops have indicated their
support. Most prominent among them is Cardinal Timothy
Dolan of New York who has <a
href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/cardinal-dolans-public-flattery-trump-forgets-few-things"
target="_blank" rel="noopener" moz-do-not-send="true">publicly
flattered Trump</a>. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">As I set out in my book, <a
href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outsider-Francis-Battle-Reform-Church/dp/1626983615"
target="_blank" rel="noopener" moz-do-not-send="true"><em>The
Outsider</em></a><em>, </em>the pro-Trump movement is
deeply linked to those opposed to the direction of
Francis’ papacy and has been fuelled by the Catholic media
conglomerate, EWTN. Their support for Trump has been
resolute and witnessed in a series of fawning interviews
with the president. At the same time, through its
presenter Raymond Arroyo and outlets such as the <em>National
Catholic Register</em>, they have promoted Archbishop
Viganò, who in 2018 called on the Pope to resign. It is
little surprise that Bannon asked Vigano in his interview
whether “the Trump Administration could be instrumental in
helping to return the Church to a pre-Francis
Catholicism”.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Nevertheless, a better way is possible.
Incoming President Joe Biden says it is time to heal the
nation, and the same can be said for the Church. While the
US bishops have announced a working group to examine
President Biden’s view on abortion, a working group on
reconciliation following the Trump presidency is equally
urgent. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">One step forward could be through a synodal
process, something which the Pope has urged the Church to
embrace. It could be the equivalent of a truth and
reconciliation commission, and a genuine attempt to
overcome the epic levels of polarisation. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">“This synodal approach is something our
world now needs badly,” Francis writes in his latest
book, <em>Let Us Dream. </em></font></p>
<p><font size="4"><em>“</em>Rather than seeking confrontation,
declaring war, with each side hoping to defeat the other,
we need processes that allow differences to be expressed,
heard, and left to mature in such a way that we can walk
together without needing to destroy anyone. This is hard
work; it needs patience and commitment – above all to each
other. Lasting peace is about creating and maintaining
processes of mutual listening.” </font></p>
<p><font size="4">It also requires breaking out of the
dictatorship of separate information worlds and
recognising the uncomfortable truth that some in the
Church played a role in fuelling the violence on the Feast
of the Epiphany 2021. In 1995, as he opened the Truth and
Reconciliation commission in post-Apartheid South Africa,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it this way. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">“To be able to forgive one needs to know
whom one is forgiving and why. That is why the truth is so
central to this whole exercise.”</font></p>
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