To hold president Trump accountable now is too little, too late

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TO THE EDITOR:

Your lead editorial of January 14 is indeed rich. Disingenuous is too weak a word. For the past four years, the Rhode Island Catholic has on occasion chided President Trump as if he were a prankish college sophomore. But since he was “pro-life” and mentioned “God and prayer,” your paper chose to minimize his infractions and rhetoric. Not once do I remember an expression of outrage in your pages.
The events of January 6 should not have been a surprise to any thoughtful person, especially those in Catholic journalism. These events were implicit in the Trump presidency from its beginning. For you to strike a pose of high dudgeon is a bit much.
The obscenities of January 6 have strengthened me in my conviction, which has formed over the last few years, that when the Catholic faith becomes centered on one or two social issues and not on Jesus Christ and him crucified, it ceases to be the Catholic faith in any real sense. It has become, over time, an ideological battle-axe brandished by a smug self-righteous triumphalism -- one that marches merrily along beneath the banner of something called “Catholic Orthodoxy.”
I have always regretted that the Rhode Island Catholic joined in this ugly parade. I regret even more that by attempting to play the role of moral arbiter, you now allow expediency to pipe your tune.

Father David Lewis Stokes, Department of Theology, Providence College