In the last week, Catholic bishops have teamed up with New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio to support President Obama’s defiance of immigration law, and to oppose Donald Trump’s sworn duty to enforce it.
This curious alliance raises a fundamental question that goes to the heart of the challenge faced by faithful Catholics in today’s prevailing secular culture.
It’s no secret. For the past eight years, the Obama Administration has attacked religious freedom on numerous fronts, from the notorious “HHS Contraception Mandate” and supporting Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal body parts to the campaign for SSM (“same-sex marriage”), going so far as to insist on incorporating sexual preference into the “rights” protected by the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The same goes for the administration’s support of universal, free abortion on demand until the moment of birth, both at home and abroad, funded by the taxpayer in domestic legislation as well as “family planning” components included in foreign aid programs.
In their attempts to defend the rights of Catholics – and other like-minded citizens – in such cases, Catholic bishops have valiantly insisted that the government must respect the rule of law regarding religious liberty. They have repeatedly pleaded with the courts and the administration to respect these fundamental rights.
Yet the Catholic bishops’ defiance of existing law regarding immigration puts the bishops’ argument in a profoundly weakened position with regard to principle: shorn of emotional trappings, their argument says simply that they want the federal government to vigorously support laws that they like while intentionally allowing those that they don’t like to go unenforced, all by design.