A Wakeup Call for Catholic Bishops
How Will the USCCB Respond to Trump?
John Gehring
November 22, 2016 - 2:51pm
I spent time in Baltimore last week in conversation with bishops, theologians, and Catholic social-justice leaders during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual fall assembly. Donald Trump wasn’t on the official agenda, of course, but what seemed unthinkable just a month ago couldn’t be avoided. A Trump presidency is no longer a bad joke. It’s a stark reality that must steel spines, clarify minds, and dispel any naive notion that we live in normal political times. Our children and grandchildren will ask what Catholic leaders did in the days when the president-elect named as his chief strategist a white nationalist who profited from kicking open the door to America’s dark cellar. The demons that escaped—racism, sexism, and nativism—have long haunted us, but now seem more comfortable in the light of day. Trump didn’t create these evils, but like demagogues down through the ages he exploited fear and division and resentment to consolidate power.
I left Baltimore hopeful, but still restless and unsatisfied.
“We are with you,” Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee, said in a message to immigrants who rightly fear that Trump will put President Obama’s deportation efforts on steroids. Especially worrying is that Trump will dismantle the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which allows undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to receive temporary work authorization and protection from deportation. I’m confident and proud that the church will continue to be on the front lines affirming and giving refuge to immigrants. This is “our identity as Catholics,” Bishop Elizondo underscored. The bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, and people like Sr. Norma Pimentel of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley and Fr. Sean Carroll of the Kino Border Initiative have done heroic work for many years. The church walks the walk when it comes to refugees and immigrants. This Gospel-rooted solidarity only gets stronger when tested by politicians, even those who make it as far as the White House.
While bishops at the national meeting were swift and clear to speak up for immigrants, I still don’t sense enough of them recognize or want to grapple with the fundamental threats a Trump administration poses to the country. There was little sense of urgency when Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the newly elected president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, spoke to reporters at the meeting. Bishops, we were told, will work with the new administration on areas of agreement and navigate areas of disagreement. “Low-energy” is how Trump may have described his tepid response. On a certain level, this is an expected and reasonable answer for someone who will be sitting down with the president-elect and his team. Bishops are pastors but they are also CEOs who manage large, complex institutions. We should expect them to prudently maintain a network of relationships with political and civic leaders across the ideological spectrum. A certain realpolitik is inevitable.
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/wakeup-call-catholic-bishops