Opinion: The Twelve Bishops and Trump—Controversy and Context

On October 22, twelve American successors to the Apostles cleared up a conundrum that has baffled theologians for centuries: What is the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit? Thanks to them, we now know: it is for Catholic clergy to meet with the President of the United States. Many have weighed in on this already, including Dr. Marcus Peter with his fine piece here at CWR.

Presently, I want to put the episcopal “prayer” into the full context of the event and the event itself into the broader American historical context.

As everyone should know, whatever one thinks of President Trump, his administration has taken input from religious leaders very seriously. The three-minute prayer was actually part of a twelve-minute meeting between the President and the bishops, which in turn was part of an over-three-hour meeting between the bishops and the White House Faith Office (which has met with leaders of many other faith traditions), with Vice President J.D. Vance presiding. The topics discussed included: The dignity of life, the abortion pill, and IVF policy; school choice programs and parental rights; stopping Christian persecution and fighting Marxism; finding the missing children and the new program to help foster care children; and religious worker visas.

Were any of these topics inappropriate for episcopal and administration discussion?

Should Catholic hierarchs withhold the Church’s accumulated wisdom from the public square? Would that not be the real sin? Do clergy lose their civil rights (and obligations) upon ordination? Could we claim that injustices existed if we absented ourselves from the conversation to which we were invited?

Yes, the bishops had asked that no video of them be released, which did occur through the agency of a staff member not privy to the agreement. That said, why would the bishops want to play Nicodemus coming to Our Lord under the cover of darkness–except for their fear of fellow-bishops who are not fellow-travelers, politically speaking? Interestingly, the White House released videos of the President with the other faith leaders just mentioned, with no pushback from anywhere.

Catholic clergy at the origins of the United States

Now, let’s take a look at some history.

The first American bishop was Father John Carroll. In 1790, Bishop Carroll led a group of Catholics in congratulating George Washington upon his election as President, in a letter rivaling an ancient Greek apotheosis. Herewith a sampler:

We have long been impatient to testify our joy and unbounded confidence, on your being called by a unanimous vote, to the first station of a country, in which that unanimity could not have been obtained, without the previous merit of unexampled services of eminent wisdom and unblemished virtue. . . . You encourage respect for religion, and inculcate by words and actions, that principle on which the welfare of nations so much depends, that a superintending Providence governs the events of the world, and watches over the conduct of men.

Your exalted maxims and unwearied attention to the moral and physical improvement of our country, have produced already the happiest effects. . . . From these happy events, in which none can feel a warmer interest than ourselves, we derive additional pleasure in recollecting that you, sir, have been the principal instrument to effect so rapid a change in our political situation.

Then the newly installed Bishop of Baltimore did not hesitate to press the case for yet further recognition of the rights of Catholics:

This prospect of national prosperity is peculiarly pleasing to us on another account, because whilst our country preserves her freedom and independence, we shall have a well founded title to claim from her justice equal rights of citizenship, as well as the price of our blood spilt under your eyes, and of our common exertions for her defense, under your auspicious conduct; rights rendered more dear to us, by the remembrance of former hardships.

When we pray for the preservation of them, where they have been granted, and expect the full extension of them from the justice of those states which still restrict them; when we solicit the protection of Heaven over our common country, we neither omit, nor can omit recommending your preservation to the singular care of Divine Providence; because we conceive that no human means are so available to promote the welfare of the United States, as the prolongation of your health and life, in which are included the energy of your example, the wisdom of your counsels, and the persuasive eloquence of your virtues.

Notice how Carroll links Catholic hopes for justice to the virtue of the President!

However, Carroll’s involvement in the young nation’s life precedes that letter by many years. It seems that Benjamin Franklin called on Father Carroll in February 1776 to accompany him to Canada to seek its support for the American cause; unfortunately, the mission failed. Nevertheless, Franklin became quite impressed by Carroll’s personality and gifts, and it appears that when the Holy See sought counsel from civil officials on who the first American bishop should be, Franklin nominated Carroll.

(An interesting and not well-known factoid: As the Civil War raged, leaders of the Confederacy sought–and received–the support of the Holy See.)

Catholic clergy and civil leaders in more recent times

Without question, Father Theodore Hesburgh, the unstoppable but controversial President of Notre Dame University, never hesitated to put his oar into political waters. He served on hundreds of presidential commissions in his long and influential life. Many Catholics considered that phenomenon with pride–even though some of his positions failed to represent authentic Catholic positions.

From 1980 to 1985, I served in various capacities with the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, founded by the indomitable Jesuit Father Virgil Blum in 1973. With the organization’s tenth anniversary on the horizon, I proposed to Father Blum that we “make a big splash,” to which he agreed. We had a celebration in Washington but an even greater one in New York, with a Pontifical Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by a banquet featuring the honorees for our first-ever “Pope John Paul II Religious Freedom Award”: Senator Henry Hyde, Mother Angelica, then-Pastor Richard John Neuhaus–and President Ronald Reagan.

The President was not able to attend, but invited Father Blum and me to the White House. On May 5, 1983, the President received us into the Oval Office for a half-hour encounter, with photos. We discussed pro-life concerns, as well as school choice initiatives. On the latter issue, he told us that we didn’t need to lobby him because he was “all-in” on it; rather, he said, we needed to lobby John Carr, the decades-long head of the bishops’ conference office for justice and peace, who refused to give Catholic support for such legislation because it was emanating from a Republican Administration.

When President Reagan announced that he intended to re-establish diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See, all the anti-Catholics on the planet came out in full force. Not so widely known, however, is that the USCCB (under the tutelage of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin) likewise opposed the move, essentially forbidding any Catholic groups to testify in favor of the proposal. At the Catholic League, we were not cowed by the heavy-handed and partisan “guidance” of Bernardin, so that I ended up being the only Catholic to offer support for the initiative before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It was disgraceful and even scandalous conduct on the part of the episcopal conference.

And who can forget the recent appearance on CNN of Cardinals Blaise Cupich, Joseph Tobin, and Robert McElroy (all appointed to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis), who engaged in unadulterated partisan attacks on the Trump Administration? Interestingly, no one from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops uttered a peep informing the public that those clerics represented no one but themselves. A spokesman of the USCCB did, however, issue such a disavowal of the twelve bishops’ recent Washington meeting.

A rather well-kept secret is the celebratory dinner hosted by Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the ten American cardinals in the wake of Pope Leo’s election at the Villa Taverna, the residence of the US Ambassador to Italy. All ten (yes, all ten) attended, and apparently had a pleasant experience. Word has it that Vance and Rubio gave the porporati their cell phone numbers and invited them to call any time they needed anything.

Bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire fame served a one-year term on the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty and was recently appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan legislative agency monitoring global religious liberty violations. Upon receiving criticism for supposedly looking like a Trump lackey, the Bishop replied:

No one ever demanded that I demonstrate unquestioned fealty to the Trump administration or any particular political point of view. I’m proud to have contributed to the final statement that we are about to communicate to the president.

I fully realize that, for some, the simple fact that the president whose administration invited me to join the commission was Donald Trump was enough to inspire a negative response, but I thought that objection was silly.

In all honesty, if President Joe Biden had invited me to serve on such a commission, I would have said yes, though I rather vehemently disagree with many of his policies.

Then come the apologies…

When attacked for their participation in the White House event, the first out of the paddock to apologize was Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee. The groveling was embarrassing: “I feel a heavy sadness. . . over the pain I caused. . . . I apologize for any damage my actions have done.”

Really? Was he chastised by his former Ordinary in Chicago?

Archbishop James Golka of Denver–the “pray-er in chief” of the session–responded to criticism in a much more measured and manly fashion initially:

I’ve had a lot of people, really good friends, ask me, ‘What were you doing?’ ‘Why did you do that?’ I just answer, ‘I was being a Catholic priest.’” “We pray for people. We bless people who need blessing. And we all need blessing, every single one of us. That’s what we do.

As a bishop and cardinal, Karol Wojtyła met with Communist officials on a regular basis. Indeed, he would have considered himself derelict in his duty had he not done so. Popes meet world leaders of every stripe. In this era of “accompaniment” and “listening” ushered in by Pope Francis, one would think the meeting of the bishops with the President of the United States would be applauded. Uh, no, I forgot: The current occupant of the White House belongs to the wrong party.