Missing the moment

When John Kasich ran for president in 2016, he campaigned as a George W. Bush–style conservative, emphasizing fiscal responsibility, civil society, and toned-down political rhetoric. The Republican Party, however, wanted something different: Donald Trump.

Almost a decade later, Kasich hasn’t changed his political philosophy despite the political ground shifting under his feet. In his most recent book, Heaven Help Us (Zondervan, 240 pp.), the ex-Ohio governor offers short profiles of 15 individuals who are living out various virtues through their faith-based communities. Reminiscent of the compassionate conservatism of Bush and Marvin Olasky, he finds saintly examples of forgiveness, social service, and interpersonal reconciliation from New York to Nebraska. His subjects are drawn from different faith traditions—Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim—yet they all share a commendable sense of service over self.

Which is all well and good. We should recognize those who are on the front lines of these important issues and join hands with them ourselves in noble endeavors. But I find Kasich’s book sadly short-sighted, in at least two respects. First, though the Church can and should undertake ministries of healing and charity, it falls short of its divine calling when it makes those activities its reason for being. Kasich breezily describes the “what” of these ministries, but he rarely delves into the “why” behind each project. Kasich writes of a generic, warm-fuzzy “faith” rather than doing the harder work of describing each person’s specific religion and how it motivates their ministry.

Second, one of Kasich’s goals for the book is to show faith as a unifying force at a time when many see it as political and divisive. These corporal works of mercy, he suggests, are an antidote to the Church’s negative brand: supposedly only caring about elections and culture wars. Yet even if the Church sought a truce in the culture wars—or even if an individual ministry wanted an exemption, like a pacifist called up in the draft—the other side seems unwilling to go along.

The Little Sisters of the Poor exist to care for the elderly and infirm, but still had to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to vindicate their right not to pay for abortions through their health insurance plan. Catholic Charities of Philadelphia wants to provide loving homes for adopted children, but it too had to go to the high court to protect its right not to recognize same-sex marriages. Even now, Catholic Charities of Superior, Wis., is before the court as bureaucrats try to impose taxes on its centers for the physically and developmentally disabled because these ministries are not “churchy” enough to qualify for a religious exemption.

Kasich is right to applaud the faith-filled women and men working hard every day among the homeless, disabled, and downtrodden. The 15 stories he tells are praiseworthy. But they are sandwiched between an introduction and conclusion that fail to appreciate the nature of the moment we are in.