My Interview with Crux: Restoring the Catholic Left in American Politics

We can’t out-organize MAGA with theology debates, ivory tower panels, and essays no one reads. It’s time to try something new.

Dear friends,

I recently had the honor of speaking with Crux, a leading Catholic outlet led by legendary Vatican reporters John L. Allen Jr. and his wife Elise Allen.

We tackled a pressing question: With the JD Vance and the MAGA Catholic Right ascendant, how can we ensure the pro-democracy Catholic Left isn’t left behind?

I told Crux’s managing editor Charles Collins that as a Mass-going Catholic Democrat under 40, I’m a rare breed — maybe less than 10% of Sunday churchgoers in the United States.

That sobering fact is a call to action: we can’t do business as usual if we want our values to reach beyond church walls.

For too long, the Catholic Left obsessed over internal Church debates. That ad intra mentality must shift if we want to impact and win the major debates that are occurring in our nation.

It’s time to look outward and bring our faith into the public square.

I also warned against our movement putting halos on academics, theologians, professional Catholics. Erudite debates about complicated topics have their role in our movement, but only so far.

I recall the prophetic words of the late Pope Francis: “We cannot become starched Christians, those overeducated Christians who speak of theological matters as they calmly sip their tea. No! We must become courageous Christians and go in search of the people who are the very flesh of Christ!”

The future of our movement lies with everyday people who are trying to their best to provide for their families, raise their children, and practice their faith.

Those are the people we need to reach and empower, whether they’re in the pews every Sunday or only once in a blue moon.

“Reality,” Francis said, “is greater than ideas.”

I also said our movement should be Catholic first. Yes, the Church has innumerable failings and sins, but we’re still here because women and men passed down the faith to us, and from them, something deep still resonates inside of us, whether or not we’re at Mass every Sunday.

We have a Gospel vision the country needs, and a pope from our shores who isn’t afraid to proclaim it. So let’s wear our Catholic identity confidently. We’re Catholic first, not an arm of any party.

Finally, we talked about unity, not uniformity. We won’t agree on everything on the Catholic Left, and that’s okay. To paraphrase Augustine: “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; and in all things, love.”

The one thing that should unite this movement is standing up against the rising tide of MAGA authoritarianism: that’s our red line. If you’re willing to stand against that extremism, you have a home in this movement, no matter your other politics or how often you attend Mass.

You can read the entire interview here.

Ultimately, this project is an act of service to a Church and a country I believe can be better. It is a refusal to let cynicism, despair, or numbness have the final word.

Our mission is simple and demanding: to make America more just, less cold, and brimming with hope.

That means standing up to the defining threats of our age — creeping authoritarianism and a tech-industrial oligarchy that treats human beings as data points and democracy as a friction problem.

We intend to meet this moment the way serious people always have: by learning from the past, studying what is unfolding now, and using that truth to guide what we build next.

This is not just a newsletter. It is becoming a movement — a growing community of people of all faiths and no faith, drawn together by the witness of Pope Leo XIV and the moral clarity he is bringing into the public square.

Inspired by that witness, we are trying to spark what Leo and Francis have called a “revolution of tenderness” in American politics, culture, and media.

I have a dogmatic belief you and I are living through a providential moment.

Just as God raised up a pope from behind the Iron Curtain to help defeat communism, God has raised up a pope from the Americas to defeat MAGA authoritarianism — and to call our nation back to a land of dreams and dignity for all who inhabit it.

I dedicate my entire heart to that mission.

To paraphrase Peter: I bring neither silver nor gold to this project. I bring the greatest gifts I’ve received — my back, my mind, my heart, and my faith. I offer them in the belief that you and I were made for this moment — to be repairers of the breach.

Letters from Leo is sustained entirely by readers like you. There are no corporate sponsors. No billionaire benefactors. Just ordinary people choosing to invest in something they believe matters.

If you feel the same energy I do, the same urgency I do, the same passion I do, and the same hopefulness I do, I’m asking for your help in three concrete ways this new year:

• Subscribe as a paid member to receive exclusive posts about the life and formation of Pope Leo and help sustain this newsletter.

• Donate with a one-time gift to fuel this project’s mission.

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And if you are someone who prays, I humbly ask for your prayers — for me, for this work, and for our fearless Pope Leo XIV.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for believing that this country can still be made more just, more humane, and more worthy of our love.

It’s time to get to work. I’ll see you on the road.