“It’s authentic, I mean he’s been very public about his own faith,” Dr. Tom Ryan with Loyola University talking about new President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
For only the second time in nations history, a Catholic has been elected president (Biden is preceded by John F. Kennedy in 1960).
Dr. Tom Ryan, Director of Loyola University’s Institute of Ministry, talked about the significance of a Catholic holding the top office in American government and the meaning and ramifications for the nation.
“President Biden’s Catholicism, his language, his perspectives, will resonate with people in South Louisiana.”
Ryan hopes that Biden can bring a lot of challenges and implications:
“[The President] can challenge Catholics in South Louisiana and across the country to take seriously the whole range of implications of our Catholic faith,” Ryan says. “And I hope that he himself will be challenged by that, too.”
Given the tumult of the past few years, Ryan calls this a good opportunity for everyone:
“It’s a way for people to reflect on their faith and implications for how we treat ourselves, how we treat other people and how we treat creation.”
Ryan says one particular focus of President Biden’s faith is healing.
“I think his faith has been important to him personally in the many losses he’s suffered in his life and in his family,” Ryan says.
“And I think that he will bring the importance of healing to our country. And I think that’s a gift. We can focus on the importance of justice in faith, but mercy is also very important. And I think President Biden understands the importance of mercy and of healing and how faith can bring that to people personally and to our country. So I think that will be a gift to our country.”