Joe Biden’s nomination for president poses a conundrum for Catholics, especially.
As a practicing Catholic, Biden makes no bones about how his faith influences his life. And if elected, Biden will rely on that faith to influence his decisions.
He’s the real deal, growing up in a working-class Irish Catholic family and attending Catholic schools.
He typically carries rosary beads in his suit or pants pocket to aid in times of reflection.
He shares his struggles with holding on when it seemed God had abandoned him when his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972 and again when his son Beau died from brain cancer in 2015.
That he came through those dark times with an even stronger faith is testament to the learning curve so crucial to becoming a mature Christian.
As such, his faith insists issues such as social justice, healthcare and income equality are front and center.
Today, that includes the millions who are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by either falling victim to the virus, losing their job or having their business adversely affected.
We are fast on track to reaching 200,000 fatalities to the virus as a country. That would have been an unfathomable prognosis just five short months ago.
In February, President Donald Trump assured Americans the coronavirus “will just disappear.”
That refusal to take the pandemic seriously has saddled the United States — the world’s largest economy — with the highest death rate of any nation.
The country’s unemployment rate is more than 10%. That’s 16.3 million people looking for work.
Just six months ago, unemployment was 3.5%.
Economists are urging Congress to pass another stimulus package to avoid a “double-dip recession,” dashing what little recovery the nation has seen since May’s deep contraction.
If passed, the president has promised to veto it.
Biden, on the other hand, believes it is our moral responsibility to provide further aid.
ON SOCIAL JUSTICE, Biden supports those peaceably protesting against racism in the United States.
