Catholic politicians
I read the article “Remembering Bobby,” a nostalgic look back at what an amazing personality Robert Kennedy was (June 21). Tributes about his speeches (“peppered with erudition and an almost ecclesiastic, Catholic compassion … which often echo Catholic social teaching”) made me wonder wistfully what America may have been like had he been elected president instead of assassinated.
But the cynic in me won out, and I realized that it is merely Robert Kennedy’s Catholicism that is the only thing that matters now, not his message, not his politics, not his living out his faith. Why? I look at elected Catholics of today, Speaker Paul Ryan, Reps. Devin Nunes and Steve King, for example, condoning fear and hate-mongering by their silence.
Bobby’s Catholic message of compassion and social justice falls on deaf ears: no responsibility to take care of the poor, strangers (immigrants), children, prisoners, health care, elderly, etc. Their agenda would make Bobby roll over in his grave. He wouldn’t be elected dog catcher in this atmosphere.
But aren’t we proud that Paul Ryan is Catholic?
Elizabeth Rosenwinkel
St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis
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