Comparing and contrasting the United States with the United Kingdom has long been a popular pastime. In 1922 GK Chesterton published his hugely entertaining account, <em>What I Saw In America</em>, following his year-long jaunt around the States.
Despite our similarities, Chesterton said that being in America felt “far more foreign than France or even Ireland”. Following in his footsteps, I made my own voyage of discovery to America earlier this year to see for myself.
Whether it is literature in the case of Chesterton, or politics in my case, the draw of America looms large. With national elections taking place in both the US and UK this year for the first time since 1992, this seemed like a particularly good moment to head across the pond.
The first thing you notice when you arrive in America, at least on the East Coast, is that nearly all the signs are in Spanish as well as English. I made the mistake of commenting on this to a US border force officer on my way through John F Kennedy airport which triggered quite a long conversation.
Language, it seems, along with almost every aspect of life in America, is deeply political. There is yet another Bill currently going through Congress attempting to make English the official language of the United States, which will almost certainly fail.
The Spanish signs at the airport are a sign of the times. Levels of migration, especially from Latin America and Asia, are changing the face of the country. Half of people aged 18 or younger in the US are Hispanic. By 2040 the majority of the population will be “nonwhite” according to some estimates.
These demographic changes are part of broader economic and social changes taking place in America. On the train down from New York to Washington DC there are physical signs of that change with old factory buildings crumbling and new developments springing up.
All of this is having an impact on the country’s politics. It is something of a cliché to say that American politics is more divided than ever, but being there you can sense and feel the tension pulling at the seams of what is still a relatively new republic.
Culture is central to these divisions, and will most likely be at the forefront of the presidential elections this November. The Democrats seem to have settled on abortion as their main issue. The Republicans have chosen migration. It is hard to think of two other issues that press on the cultural pressure points in America today more than these.<br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/will-the-abortion-issue-decide-us-election/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Could the abortion issue decide US election?</mark></a></strong>
The trenches that have been dug by America’s two main parties are deep but newly formed. Old hands in Washington will tell you that it was not that long ago that there was a strong pro-migration caucus in the Republican Party, something which seems almost unimaginable today in light of Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
There was also a strong pro-life caucus in the Democratic Party, but there is now only one pro-life Democrat on Capitol Hill. Democrat-leaning Catholics feel “sad” and “disappointed” when they talk about President Biden. The Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, recently described him as something of a “cafeteria Catholic” on account of his tendency to pick and choose elements of Church teaching.
To be fair, this is not just a Biden problem. The strong Catholic heritage that under pinned centre-left parties in the US and UK as well as Australia and elsewhere has been waning in recent years and in some cases deliberately undermined as part of the shift towards a politics based on identity and culture.
It is part of a broader realignment of politics in many western economies which has been seen for some time. The “cloth coat” Republicans in America set the trend for traditional working-class areas shifting from Left to Right long before the “red wall” Conservatives in the UK came along.
How is the Catholic Church in America navigating these shifting sands? The honest answer is with difficulty. One of the first questions I get asked in several of my meetings is who funds the Catholic Union. Money helps to set the agenda and it seems that there is an agenda to almost everything in American Catholic life at the moment.
There are those who are quite prepared to lean into these divisions. Groups like Catholic Vote and Catholics for Catholics make no secret of telling Catholics who to vote for. In Congress, common ground is almost impossible to find. Even a fairly modest proposal from Republican Congressman Chris Smith to label Nigeria a Country of Concern on account of the shocking levels of Christian persecution in the country is stalling as it lacks the support of the Democratic leadership.
Others are trying to keep their heads down. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has the unenviable task of trying to keep an increasingly divided house of bishops in America together. Many of the religious orders in America are focusing on their work with the poor and those on the margins of society, and trying to steer clear of politics.
Some brave souls are trying to find the middle ground. I had the privilege of taking part in a panel event at Georgetown University hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. It was part of their series of Public Dialogues which have engaged almost 300,000 people since they launched in 2013. The work of the Catholic Herald Institute in this regard is also extremely valuable.
The state of the Catholic Church in America matters. The Church is a big presence in American public life, providing education, healthcare and social support to millions of people. Catholics make up around 20 per cent of the population numbering around 70 million. In terms of numbers, America is the fourth largest Catholic country in the world with only Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines having more adherents to the Faith.
As in the UK, Catholics are significantly over-represented in politics. Around 27 per cent of Senators and 29 per cent of Representatives profess the Catholic Faith. No other western democracy has anywhere near this number of Catholics engaged in the governance and leadership of their country.
Then there are the voters. As well as being a sizeable chunk of the population, Catholics are particularly numerous in some of the key swing states such as Michigan, Ohio and southern Florida. In fact, Catholics have voted for the winning candidate in 12 of the last 13 Presidential elections. In 2020, a slim majority of Catholics voted for Joe Biden. How they will vote this year remains to be seen.<br><strong><br>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/biden-in-worse-trouble-than-trump-with-catholic-voters-especially-if-they-go-to-mass/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Biden in worse trouble than Trump with Catholic voters – especially if they go to Mass</mark></a></strong><br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/biden-will-only-pull-out-of-presidential-race-if-lord-almighty-intervenes/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Biden will only pull out of presidential race if ‘Lord Almighty’ intervenes</mark></a></strong>
Closer to home, Catholics in the UK had their own political decisions to make once the General Election was called. British Catholics are far less numerous than their American counter parts, accounting for around 10 per cent of the population, but they still have significant influence. A survey of Catholic Union members and supporters found that a staggering 90 per cent of responders planned to vote in the election.
So what, if any, are the lessons that can be learned by the Catholic Church in the UK from the example of America, when it comes to political engagement? The first is surely to remember that we are in the world, not of the world. A Catholic academic complained to me that “at one time people’s religion shaped their politics; now their politics shapes their religion”. We need to know who we are and who we are serving when we enter into politics.
Chesterton remarked that “All good Americans wish to fight the representatives they have chosen. All good Englishmen wish to forget the representatives they have chosen.” Political involvement is important, but it should not become all-consuming and it certainly should not define us.
The second lesson is the need to promote Catholic social thought across political divides. No political party perfectly expresses the social doctrine of the Church. I don’t think we should be afraid of saying that. Recent years have seen the development of grassroots Catholic groups within Labour and the Conservatives. These should be supported and encouraged as a way of giving witness to the faith within the two main parties in the UK.
Finally, there needs to be a robust defence of the common ground in the life of our Church and the nation. We cannot claim to be seeking the common good in our politics if we are not practising what we preach as a Catholic community. The Catholic Union along with other groups has an important role to play in holding the ring on this shared space.
For Brits, America is a foreign country in many ways. Yet many of the changes and challenges it is confronting look familiar. There are lessons for us, both good and bad, in how to respond. Chesterton glumly said that “travel narrows the mind”. Perhaps this is the one occasion where I am inclined to disagree.<br><br><em>Photo: Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, and President Joe Biden during the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, 27 June 2024. The debate was the first of two scheduled between the two candidates before the November election. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.)</em>
<em>James Somerville-Meikle is deputy director of the Catholic Union of Great Britain.</em><br><br><strong><strong>This article appears in the Summer Special July/August 2024 issue of the <em>Catholic Herald</em>. To subscribe to our award-winning, thought-provoking magazine and have independent and high-calibre counter-cultural Catholic journalism delivered to your door anywhere in the world click <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/subscribe/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">HERE</mark></a></strong></strong>.
