Vice-President J. D. Vance

Vice-President J. D. Vance threw unjustified slurs at the U. S. Catholic bishops because the bishops oppose some of the elements of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, in particular treating all illegal immigrants the same and rescinding the sanctuary status of churches.

Vance accused the bishops of being motivated by the “bottom line” in their immigration ministries. In other words, the bishops don’t want to lose the federal monies they receive for these programs. This only makes sense if Vance assumes that the bishops are personally profiting from the federal grants the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops receive, about $100 million a year, to work with the government in settling immigrants. Vance accuses the bishops of settling illegal immigrants with these funds, while the bishops maintain that every immigrant they have settled through the Church’s various ministries have been vetted by and allowed into the U. S. by the U. S. government. The bishops also maintain that the federal funds they receive do not meet the full cost of their resettling programs. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, insists, “You think we make money caring for the immigrants? We’re losing it hand over fist … we’re not in a money-making business.” Cardinal Dolan also made the point that it is often the local city and state governments that come to the Church asking for assistance with immigration resettlement because the civil authorities lack the manpower to accomplish the task, and because the Church can usually get a bigger bang for the buck.

Vance then slurs the bishops by accusing them of not caring for children who are victims of human trafficking. Frankly, this has nothing to do with the immigration ministries of the Catholic Church, in that the Church works to settle immigrants vetted and allowed into the country by the U. S. government, not children illegally brought into the U. S. by cartels. The U. S. bishops have had a ministry for victims of human trafficking for decades. Vance should know that. If he doesn’t, then he hasn’t been paying attention. During the Obama years, the U. S. bishops were threatened with losing their government funding for their human trafficking ministry if they did not add abortion to their programs, even though independent observers recognized the bishops’ program as one of the best human trafficking ministries in the country. The bishops refused, and the Obama administration cut off their federal funding. The bishops are not going to sacrifice Catholic moral principles for federal money.

Vance calls himself a “devout Catholic,” yet he doesn’t hesitate to unjustly slur the Catholic bishops with vicious false accusations. This is anti-Catholic behavior. Besides that, Vance is a grown-ass man who is an accomplished author, a former U. S. Senator, and now Vice-President of the United States. He ought to know how to disagree with people without falsely accusing them with vicious slurs just to score political points. It is perfectly fine to disagree with the bishops. It is never fine, much less Christian, to falsely accuse and publicly malign those with whom one disagrees, bishops or otherwise.

Catholics who are politically inclined, and especially those who hold public office, are faced with a choice. Are they going to form their faith according to their politics, or are they going to form their politics according to their faith? I am not saying which Vance has chosen, but he needs to choose. It may be that Vance genuinely believes that all aspects of the Trump administration’s immigration policy are just and moral according to Catholic moral principles. He is free to make that prudential judgment. But he is not free to publicly malign the bishops because they disagree.

Vance owes the U. S. Catholic bishops a public apology. Will he extend that? I doubt it. Few politicians, even “devout Catholic” ones, are willing to admit when they’re wrong. I hope I’m proved wrong.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.