According to conventional wisdom, Hillary Clinton’s VP pick, Senator Tim Kaine, is the boring, safe choice: uninspiring to progressives, a white dude, but a competent centrist from a swing state. Kaine said so himself on Meet the Press: “It’s true. I am boring.”. .
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Not quite. In fact, Kaine’s old-school, social-justice, Jesuit-trained Catholicism is a refreshing break from the usual association of religiosity with conservatism. As such, especially if Kaine does attract moderate Republicans disenchanted with the extremism of Donald Trump, he has the potential to be a transformative figure. . .
The Jesuit order, in particular, remained focused on service, justice, and issues of poverty, deemphasizing (while not opposing) issues of sexual purity. Not surprisingly, Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, has followed this pattern, much to the chagrin of traditionalists. . . That is Tim Kaine’s tradition, too. In particular, he has spoken often of the year he spent with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras, telling Charlie Rose in 2008 that “the transformative event in my life, next to being a husband and father, was this year that I spent as a missionary in Honduras, not only informing my views of our country, but giving me a sense of mission in life at a time when I lacked it. That was a powerful faith experience for me.”
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“There's what we are today and there is what we ought to be. I think both religion and politics are both about that,” Kaine said on Charlie Rose in 2008.. . .Politics and religion are both about … breaking out of our own selfishness and our own limitations and saying what is and isn't necessary. We can be better than that.”
That is a quintessential progressive religious vision, and it is not something we’ve heard much on the presidential campaign trail this year, or most years, especially from someone who goes to mass every week. Don’t believe the hype that Kaine is the safe, boring choice. He could be a game-changer.