"The internet is on fire with criticism of the 12 bishops who prayed over President Trump in the Oval Office. Let me remind everyone that bishops are priests and pastors and should not have to apologize for praying over presidents. This assault on public prayer is based on a secular vision of life—not the essential evangelization required by the Gospel. Not only should we give them the space to be evaluated outside the secular political lens, they should give that grace to themselves in the face of this unwarranted criticism. “As I prayed about, I thought that this is what Catholics do. We pray for people,” said Archbishop James Golka. “No matter whether we agree or disagree on anything, we always pray for our country and leaders.” Imagine the church restricting who it could dialogue with or preach to: it would be a a history without Ambrose preaching to Theodosius; without John Paul II converting General Wojciech Jaruzelski on his death bed; without Fr. Hugh O’Flaherty befriending Nazi Herbert Kappler in prison. The right and duty to witness to figures in authority dates back to the time of Caesar. Those men all did many things worse by orders of magnitude than this leader, who has also done some things exceptionally well, whatever the honest criticism of some of his policies are. I also question the selective outrage potentially at work here. Do honest Catholics believe this outrage would exist for praying over Obama, Biden, or even George W.? These men were there as priests and they prayed as priests do. That is a win for the faith, no matter the man in the presidential chair. Archbishop Golka was right. This IS what Catholics do." – CatholicVote President & CEO Kelsey Reinhardt @catholickelsey