Joe Biden’s Vatican II Catholicism vs. JD Vance’s Other Catholicism

Joe Biden’s Catholicism, like that of Nancy Pelosi and many Catholic politicians of the past fifty years, was born of the Second Vatican Council called by Pope John XXIII in 1962, to “open the windows” to more involvement in the world.

One’s work is meant to bring one’s values into culture and the world after all, and Vatican II articulated values worth practicing such as Justice. A few years following the Council there arose the phrase, “a preferential option for the poor.” 

Values of acknowledging and then ceasing antisemitism, and apologizing for it, were promoted. Values of interfaith or deep ecumenism. And much more. 

After Biden chose to step aside from the presidency in favor of a new generation a few weeks ago, he was praised as a selfless person who showed a respect for the common good. That decision has electrified many around the candidacy of vice-president Harris.

To zero in on just one accomplishment from Biden’s presidency, his work on behalf of the environment has been praised. Mike Tidwell, executive director of CCAN, says President Biden oversaw “the most successful administration on climate action in U.S. history.” 

As proof, he speaks of passing the Inflation Reduction Act offering “landmark investments in climate action,” improving the Environmental Protection agency (EPA), putting the US on the path to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions; spurring growth of clean energy manufacturing jobs across the nation; directing every agency in the federal government to work toward “environmental justice for all; restoring US climate leadership on the international stage.“ And much more. 

Insofar as “Biden has done more for climate change than any other president in history,” he is carrying out Pope Francis’ call in his landmark encyclical Laudato Si, to care for “our common home.”

These accomplishments contrast sharply with the politics of vice-presidential nominee JD Vance, who has been a Catholic for the last five years, but whose brand of Catholicism is in stark contrast to that of Pope Francis and Vatican II.

When Vance ran for the senate in 2022, he won against another Vatican II Catholic, Tim Ryan, who has been called “a younger version of Joe Biden.”

NCR editor Michael Sean Winters has proposed that Vance “gives Catholicism a bad name.” In fact, says Winters, Vance “departs from the teaching of the church on a host of issues, from immigration to labor rights to climate change.”  

To be continued.

See Matthew Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life.

See also Fox, The Reinvention of Work.

And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the World.

And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.

Banner Image: — Vatican II begins: The Council Fathers’ procession at St. Peter’s Basilica, as Italian citizens look on. October 1962. Photo by Peter Geymayer. Wikimedia Commons. 

Queries for Contemplation

Do you sense a gap between Vatican II, Pope Francis, Nancy Pelosi’s, Joe Biden’s, Tim Ryan’s brand of Catholicism and that of JD Vance? What do you think accounts for that?

Recommended Reading

Prayer: A Radical Response to Life

How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works. “One of the finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice

In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register