Courtney Wight '26

by Courtney Wight '26 on April 16, 2026

My junior year I took the general Foundations: Faith, Life, and Traditions class to fill my theology 200 requirement at Providence College. The majority of the semester was the standard stuff, but towards the end of the semester my professor wanted to connect our experience in the classroom to the real world. This was during the presidential election of 2024, so we discussed the relationship between religion and politics. The conclusion from our class was that religion does, and should, impact politics because a person’s values and views are shaped by religion.

Before getting into the thick of it, I would like to clarify that I am not Catholic. I am basing this opinion piece on my experiences with Catholicism through coursework at PC. My Development of Western Civilization and theology courses gave me a general understanding of the Church teachings, but we did not read the whole Bible cover to cover and I am not an expert on Catholicism.

As a part of the class, we covered the topic of abortion since it is a hot issue within the political and religious spheres. A majority of candidates with the Republican Party on the conservative side were anti-abortion, but our class discussions revealed a more nuanced view into expressing religion in politics. Through the framework of the whole-life ethic, we expanded that being a Catholic should not mean that you have to vote Republican simply because the candidate is anti-abortion. As a Catholic, there is also a duty to protect women, immigrants, prisoners, and children. Using this framework, I argue that if you continue to support the action of the Trump Administration, you are not following Catholic teachings.

According to the whole-life ethic, immigrants should be given care and consideration. The treatment of immigrants by the Trump Administration is vile and dehumanizing. Ripped from their lives, torn from their families, people are held in unsafe detention centers. I experienced this first hand through my summer internship with my local assemblymember. As an intern, I was responsible for answering the phone and someone called one day asking for assistance since her husband had been taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In the background, I could hear their children crying as she recounted the story. It was heartbreaking to hear a family being broken apart, knowing there was nothing I could do. My assemblymember’s previous career was in immigration law and after the phone call ended she was clear the chances of him being returned to his family were slim. This woman became a single mother in an afternoon and was told no information about the location of her husband or how to contact him. This treatment of immigrants is not in line with Catholic teachings, but it is happening across the country under the Trump Administration.

In addition to protecting immigrants, Catholics have a duty to protect women and children. The Trump Administration’s military actions in Iran threaten noncombatants, primarily women and children. A primary example of this was a school hit by a bomb, likely from the United States. At least 170 people died, most of whom were school-aged girls, primarily from ages seven to 12. Bombing a school and killing children is not in line with Catholic teachings. Additionally, Trump has made personal threats to civilian infrastructure through the Truth Social App. President Trump announced, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.” Trump also threatened “a whole civilization will die tonight,” which presumably includes women and children. These threats have been perceived as potential war crimes since targeting civilian infrastructure and threatening to kill an entire country is not within the scope of war, and it is certainly not aligned with Catholic teachings.

Again, I am not Catholic and am not claiming to be. I tried my best in theology classes and I’d like to think my professors did a great job conveying the teachings of the Church to their students. My key takeaways from Catholicism were not violence, aggression, and bullying others into submission. It was love, acceptance, and care for those less fortunate. The Trump Administration’s actions do not align with the heart of Catholic teachings and a continued support of this administration is supporting the caging of immigrants and the killing of school girls.