I’m a relativist,” are words I never expected to hear Father Paul Scalia say. As you might expect of a Catholic priest and the son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, he is not really an “anything goes” kind of man. But he recently made that announcement to make sure everyone was listening while speaking at a Catholic Vote summit on the upcoming election. “Politics isn’t everything” was the point he wanted a crowd gathered in Washington, D.C., to hear. It’s of secondary importance to faith and family. Growing up and now serving in the area, he said he’s seen too many people who, in the thick of the business of politics, have neglected faith and family.

I was thinking of this while waiting for a train in the bustle of an East Coast station the other day. Naively thinking that writing against deadline on my laptop was a feasible idea, I took a seat on a bench. A woman then hollered at me from across the way for daring to trespass on her home. With a ticket in hand that kept the Amtrak policeman from escorting her away, I don’t think the bench she occupied was a regular spot for her. Her comment left me wondering about what had happened to her. Her two bare legs with bandages that bore signs of long and protracted service told a tale of woundedness that she didn’t need to use words to communicate to me.

Maybe I’m too immersed in it all, as a writer and speaker and observer who hit a record high of back-and-forth trips between New York and D.C. (I stopped counting when I hit a dozen) on Amtrak this month. But the anger of the woman put me in mind of the presidential election and the collective “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” attitude that seems to have taken each party by surprise, though it really shouldn’t have. People feel betrayed, and they are looking for a way out – even if the options aren’t solid. They want something different – they’re not sure what that means, but are taking a gamble on “it can’t be worse.”

Father Scalia spoke a few hours after the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, which has become an event where Catholic leaders from throughout the country can gather every year. I was struck this year by both the despair about politics in the air and the number of people coming up to me and seemingly wanting me to reassure them that they have to vote for Donald Trump – something I couldn’t do for them.

Instead, by the end of breakfast, I could point them to the words of the main keynote speaker, Cardinal Robert Sarah, from Guinea, a high-ranking Vatican official. He said that the world prays the United States of America gets things right. It was a reminder of what gifts we have as citizens of a country whose founding documents acknowledge a Creator, look to protect life and liberty and aspire to support and encourage a happiness that has roots in more than the ephemeral.

Cardinal Sarah spoke after my friend Sister Constance Veit from the Little Sisters of the Poor, who has had to spend time in court due to the Obama administration’s health care mandate, which orders the sisters to involve themselves in an insurance business that is contrary to their beliefs. Despite her travails, Veit emanated joy, another reminder about priorities.

Cardinal Sarah said: “The battle for the soul of America and the soul of the world is primarily spiritual.” As it happens, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who also gave a speech at the event, concurred, talking of a spiritual void that leads to things like the opioid epidemic currently sweeping America.

Back at the Newark train station, one young boy had a look of catastrophic concern. He wanted a drink with ice. A cold chocolate milk his mother soon bought him did the trick. Overjoyed, another young boy had a look of magnificent wonder as he played with his blue bouncy ball, seemingly unaware of the world beyond. A family of four headed to a ballgame, with, for the moment, no more concern than finding the right track. Honoring and protecting life, love, and innocents, being good stewards, realizing this spectacle we’re watching isn’t everything – these are things that will take us somewhere better.

— Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.

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