Does a peaceful person live here?

Today is the feast day of St. Luke. As a recent convert to Catholicism, I’ve enjoyed listening to the Gospels in homilies through a Eucharistic lens, hearing the good news in a way that feels new even after being a Christian all my life. But as I read the Gospel reading for this feast just hours after watching former President Donald Trump’s speech-turned-roast at the 2024 Al Smith Dinner in New York, I felt a sharp spiritual whiplash.

In the readings, Christ instructs the disciples on how they should enter the towns they go in to proclaim that the “Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” In Our Lord’s instructions, He tells them:

“Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.”
(Luke 10:5-6)

This commandment of peace is not something to be ignored. Christ tells us time and time again that we are to be his peacemakers, to show the world a life lived in the reality of the Good News. I wonder, though: How does tolerating Trump’s consistently un-Christlike and vulgar speech, and potentially more of it in future years, help us in that mission?

I want to be clear: the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation has served countless women and children in the Archdiocese of New York, a thing that should be acknowledged and celebrated. However, that doesn’t mean the allowance of Trump’s speech should also be praised.

His conduct and comments were unacceptable. He said Vice President Kamala Harris “had no intelligence whatsoever” and called U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi “crazy.” On Joe Biden, he quipped that the current president could still become the “first woman president” if Harris loses in November. He even called out former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio: “He was a terrible mayor, I don’t give a shit if this is comedy or not.”

For almost 30 minutes, Trump berated women, made crude jokes, and ultimately used an event benefiting a Catholic organization headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan as another one of his campaign rallies. Moreover, his conduct was not at all in line with what Christ or his Church teaches us.

What does endorsing that lack of kindness, gentleness, and self-control say about our witness for Christ? Do we tolerate that type of behavior, those types of jokes, directed at our fellow image-bearers of Christ? 

Trump has consistently fanned the flames of division and hatred in our country. His consistent lies—including the false accusations of Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs, which had to be debunked by Dolan’s fellow bishops in Ohio—fly in the face of Christ’s commandments. We are to be peacemakers, not dividers. How does giving a platform to this rhetoric help us do that?

Are we supposed to sit through comments like his for the sake of raising money? Do we not trust God enough that he will provide for what we need, and that we don’t need to compromise on what our faith teaches so that we can fundraise?

I hope that not only Dolan but all American Catholics reflect on Christ’s question for us in the Gospel of St. Luke: Does a peaceful person live here? 

Tulio Huggins is a college campus minister at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 2023. 

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