BALTIMORE (RNS) — Gathering in Baltimore on Tuesday (Nov. 12), just a week after former President Donald Trump won reelection, leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops promised to defend immigrants and poor people in the coming years.
“As the successors of the Apostles and vicars of Christ in our dioceses, we never backpedal or renounce the clear teaching of the Gospel. We proclaim it in and out of season,” said Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the conference, who also leads the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Broglio’s comments expanded on an appearance last week on the Catholic media network EWTN, where the archbishop said the majority of Catholics had supported Trump due to concern for the “dignity of the human person.” In Baltimore Broglio made clear that human dignity should be protected “from womb to tomb,” saying the bishops were committed “to see Christ in those who are most in need, to defend and lift up the poor, and to encourage immigration reform, while we continue to care for those in need who cross our borders.”
Cautioning that the bishops “certainly do not encourage illegal immigration,” he said, to applause from his fellow bishops, “we will all have to stand before the throne of grace and hear the Lord ask us if we saw him in the hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, stranger, or sick and responded to his needs.”
At a press conference, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, current chair of the migration committee, said that while the conference was waiting to see how Trump’s campaign rhetoric will materialize as policy, the conference would speak out for migrants in the event of mass deportations.
FILE – El Paso Catholic Bishop Mark Seitz talks with Celsia Palma, 9, of Honduras, as they walk to the Paso Del Norte International Port of Entry on June, 27, 2019, in Juarez, Mexico. (AP Photo/Rudy Gutierrez)
“We will raise our voice loudly if those basic protections for people that have been a part of our country from its very beginning are not being respected,” Seitz said, referring to both legal and human rights. “This is going to be a test for our nation. Are we in fact a nation based on law, on the most fundamental laws about the rights of the human person?”
When asked how he would respond if Trump followed through on suggestions about involving the military in mass deportations, Broglio said he had a responsibility to “ensure pastoral care” for the military.
“Unfortunately, the way the military is set up, you cannot conscientiously object to a policy or to a certain war, you have to conscientiously object to war in general, and so that doesn’t really provide an avenue out of the service,” Broglio said.
However, he said he would counsel that “no one can be obliged to go against his or her conscience,” and said that chaplains would work to defend those conscience rights as best as they could within the system. Broglio also raised concerns that mass deportations would not be economically sound given the number of open jobs.
Arlington, Virginia, Bishop Michael Burbidge, who leads the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, celebrated three instances where state ballot measures securing abortion rights failed on Election Day and commended bishops on their efforts in the seven states where abortion rights came out on top.
Burbidge said the bishops had learned they needed to get out early in messaging. “The truth has to be conveyed concisely and in a clear way to all the faithful because distortion of the truth has been a big part of these ballot initiatives,” he said, also asserting that the bishops could not compete financially with the abortion rights movement and explaining that underlining the “extreme” nature of the ballot measures was persuasive for voters.
Migrants seeking asylum line up while waiting to be processed after crossing the border Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)
He said they also intended to practice perseverance and continue to look to partner with others on anti-abortion work.
Kansas City, Kansas, Archbishop Joseph Naumann told his fellow bishops during a discussion period that the success of and votes of many Catholics for abortion rights ballot initiatives should be a “wake up call,” similar to a 2019 Pew poll showing low levels of belief in Catholic teaching on the Eucharist. Though later polls called that 2019 Pew poll into question, the bishops’ concern about Communion led to their three-year evangelization project, the National Eucharistic Revival. Kansas was one state where an abortion rights ballot measure was successful in 2022.
The bishops also voted for new chairs for various committees of the conference, including the bishop who will chair the conference’s committee on migration through the bulk of Trump’s presidency. Bishop Brendan Cahill, of the border diocese of Victoria, Texas, was elected to that position and will take the helm of the committee after next November’s meeting in 2025.
Generally, the bishops elected the higher-ranking bishop in the match-ups for who would lead their committees. One exception was the election for the chairman of the committee of divine worship, for which the bishops chose Cleveland Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost over Portland, Oregon, Archbishop Alexander Sample. Sample banned Mass at a Lutheran-Catholic ecumenical community in his diocese last winter and is seen as among the most conservative wing of the conference on liturgy and LGBTQ+ issues.
Bishop Stepan Sus, a leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, delivered an extended address to the conference, speaking of Ukrainian suffering, warning against Russian framing of their military action as holy and thanking the U.S. church for their prayers and material support. “We believe God will not abandon us and will help us stop this evil,” he told the bishops.
Bishop Sus received lengthy standing applause from the bishops in the room. Last week, Trump called Vladimir Putin, reportedly urging the Russian leader not to escalate the country’s military campaign in Ukraine. He also reportedly supports a peace deal that would allow Russia to keep some captured territory.
On Tuesday, bishops spoke of the various initiatives in the church that they hoped would lead to greater devotion among the faithful.
“We redouble our efforts to introduce civility into the everyday discourse. Christians should be catalysts for a more humane and worthy approach to daily life,” said Broglio.