Editor’s note: The following are Bishop Joseph Strickland’s reflections on the 2024 election and Donald Trump’s re-election.

(LifeSiteNews) — As people of faith, I’m sure that all of us are continuing to ponder the decision of our nation on November 5th to re-elect Donald Trump as president of the United States. I believe it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

The nation, and thankfully many Catholics, chose to reject an agenda of death and adamant promotion of abortion and so many other evils.

Certainly, all of our political system is imperfect and needs to be cleansed of its corruptions. That remains true even as Donald Trump is president-elect.

We have to remember, of course, that no human leader is our salvation. Our salvation is only in Jesus Christ. Hopefully that’s just repeating the obvious for all of us, but it needs to be repeated, because we need to turn to God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and follow the way of Jesus Christ. He is the only way that God has given us – His Own Son – to guide us to eternity.

Jesus Himself has taught us this, His Church through the ages has taught us this, and we must embrace this truth. With all the confusion in the Church and in the world, let us be very clear.

I believe the United States does have a great opportunity and responsibility to lead in the truth that God has revealed to us. But there is much corruption that we must overcome.

So as people of faith, I believe the mandate we have been is to recognize the opportunity to proclaim the truth and to live it more boldly, more clearly. Thankfully, President Trump is moving in that direction in many areas. But there are many ways that we still need to move closer to Jesus Christ and away from all that is corruption and denying Him.

READ: Bishop Strickland warns against complacency after 2024 elections: ‘We’ve got to seize this moment’

My attitude for this election is that it has given us an opportunity, but an opportunity that we can’t take for granted. We can’t become complacent. We can’t breathe a sigh of relief and say, “Okay, now we have a president that will lead us out of this darkness.” Hopefully, he will convert more deeply to Christ, along with all the administration, all the leaders that were elected. We must continue to pray for our leaders, men and women, sinners, dealing with the corruption, and sometimes giving into the corruption, in our world.

We must pray for our leaders – as we pray for ourselves, our families, and our Church – to more and more turn to the truth that God has revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ, Truth Incarnate.

My basic thought with this election is to seize the opportunity it gives us to more freely speak of the truth of our Catholic faith, to more boldly pray and oppose the destruction of unborn children in abortion and all the other threats to life, to do our best to live by the godly principles that flow from His Church, from Sacred Scripture, from all the ways that God has revealed to us the truth that is essential for all of us.

There are likely to be days of turmoil ahead, as many vehemently oppose the truth that we know and they will oppose the efforts of Donald Trump and his administration to turn us closer to that truth.

But finally, again, let us know that our strength is Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world and the light of our lives. I believe this is a time for us as Catholics, as weakened as the Church is, to hold clearly and strongly to what we know our Catholic faith to be, to resist anything in this nation or anything from the Vatican that waters down or diminishes the realities of our Catholic faith.

We’re all sinners. We all need to reform our lives and grow closer to the Lord, but we must embrace this challenge, this opportunity, as people of faith. Let us not relax, but instead become more vigorous, more joyful, more powerfully committed to the truth that we know that flows from the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Let us do the work I believe we’re called to as a nation where we are free to proclaim God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and live in godly ways, if only we will choose to.

Let us use this opportunity to bring the light of Christ more powerfully to the world and to pray for the Church and her leaders to once again be those vigorous and strong voices of the apostles proclaiming Jesus Christ. God bless you.

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland

November 7, 2024