With the election of Donald J. Trump as our next president, I am filled with hope.
I am filled with hope following the election of a president in a way that I have never been as a voter in my lifetime.
I am filled with hope because among the greatest losers of this election nationally are abortion and Planned Parenthood; same-sex marriage, the transgender agenda, and the falsely named Human Rights Campaign; President Obama and the forced payment for contraception through Obamacare; the biased and disgraced national media; many Wall Street elites; Hollywood elites; and political correctness.
Already, some among the media are bemoaning the election of a man as president they have called racist, sexist, and homophobic by what they see as, but will not name as Hillary Clinton did, a coalition of deplorables.
If members of the media ever truly examine themselves they will find the answer to their question of “How did we get this election so wrong.”
I doubt that more than a few will be able to look into the abyss of their bias and stomach the hard truth they will find. And I pray that I am wrong.
I realize that many Americans today are angered and saddened by Mr. Trump’s election as our next president. I realize that many will display that anger, at least in words.
But I pray that they will open their hearts to Mr. Trump and a better direction for our nation.
I am filled with hope because Mr. Trump has Mike Pence of Indiana as vice president. And I believe that he will be a strong and helpful guide for Mr. Trump.
I am filled with hope because I take Mr. Trump at his word and believe that he will appoint Supreme Court Justices who will uphold the Constitution and traditional Christian and American morality.
I am filled with hope because in its exit poll results Fox News reports that 81 percent of white evangelicals, 60 percent of Protestants, 52 percent of Catholics, 61 percent of Mormons, and 55 percent of other Christians voted for Trump.
I am filled with hope because leaders and supporters of the Family Research Council, the Manhattan Declaration, the National Organization for Marriage, Students for Life of America, Priests for Life, and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty have been unrelenting in their defense of traditional Christian morality and surely made a difference in this election.
I stand with these groups and pray for their success.
I stand in particular with Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, in saying that “it’s time to fire Planned Parenthood and big abortion, and everyone in our nation needs to know it.”
I pray for Kristan Hawkins and Students for Life in their battle against the culture of death that permeates our nation’s colleges and universities.
To this I add that it’s time for corporate America and Wall Street to fire the Human Rights Campaign and its influence on how and where they do business, despite the uncertain results of the governor’s race in North Carolina.
Corporate America needs to listen to the voters in this election who supported Mr. Trump.
And these voters need to understand the force for change that they can be when they are unified.
I am filled with hope because never before have I witnessed so many Catholic priests and bishops speak so clearly about the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, how to rightly vote your conscience, and why the policies of Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine, and the Democratic Party are unacceptable to those who truly live their faith.
I think of the courage of one young priest I know, a priest in his first parish assignment, who spoke forcefully from the pulpit about the Church’s moral teachings and voting.
I think of how a dissenter from the Church’s teachings complained about him to a powerful dissenter priest in his diocese and how that priest purportedly called his pastor not long after the complaint.
I think of how this young priest did not stop preaching the truth, despite this intimidation. I know he, and others like him, will not stand down or shrink, even though they have much work to do in converting the 45 percent of poorly formed Catholics who voted for Hillary Clinton and against Church teaching.
Despite the disappointing number of Catholics who voted for Hillary Clinton, I am filled with hope.
One of the battles going forward in our nation is in converting those who fail to understand and vote the faith based on the true teachings of Jesus Christ. Along with Catholics, Evangelicals have 16 percent, Protestant ministers 37 percent, and Mormons 25 percent of their populations to evangelize.
I am filled with hope because I believe Mr. Trump and his administration will listen to and work for all Americans during his presidency.
I am filled with hope because unlike many among them I believe that Mr. Trump and his administration will work for African Americans, who have suffered so much as a result of the anti-life policies of the Democratic Party.
I believe that America can only be great again if it rejects, as the majority did in this election, the immorality of recent decades and returns to traditional Christian and American morality, which is a morality that benefits all Americans and all nations.
I believe that the unlikely Mr. Trump will keep his word to Christians, our nation, and the nations of the world.
And I am filled with hope.
