Loud applause is the norm of sports events, not church sanctuaries, but Seattle’s St. James Cathedral rises to the occasion. Its pastor-emeritus Fr. Michael Ryan was on fire at the pulpit a few Sundays ago, addressing immigration as “an issue that involves fundamental Judeo-Christian beliefs.”
The Catholic Church refuses to look the other way in the face of Trump’s roundups of emigrees and refugees, despite justifications from Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic convert. Said Ryan: “I simply cannot be silent when wholesale sweeps and dragnets are currently taking place across the country.”
Pope Leo XIV has taken up the cause. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, abandoning its customary timidity, has decried roundups. Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne, in a pastoral letter, said recently: “When charity is absent, the law becomes cold. Harsh enforcement of law, in ruthless and intimidating fashion, lacks the basic demand of human dignity, respect, and compassion.”
In explaining why Peter is confronting Caesar, Ryan spoke bluntly: “The indiscriminate deportation of people is being carried out by masked agents of the federal government who employ brutal and even deadly tactics, targeting not only migrants, but people who are trying nothing more than exercising their First Amendment right to engage in peaceful protest.”
It marks the third time in recent years that the “One True Church” in Western Washington has confronted a thorny issue. In the 1960’s, Archbishop Thomas A. Connelly, a stern disciplinarian, spoke strongly for civil rights when he championed the Catholic Interracial Council.
Twenty years later, Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, an avowed pacifist, paddled a canoe in protest at the Trident nuclear submarine base at Bangor. The archbishop’s words, calling the base “the Auschwitz of Puget Sound,” infuriated Navy Secretary (and Catholic) John Lehmann.
The right wing of American Catholicism has taken liberties with the Gospels. Then-U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, a strong death-penalty and abortion foe, presided over restoration of the federal death penalty.
St. James is not turning back. It’s new pastor, Fr. Gary Lazzeroni, wrote: “The conviction that we are all responsible for the well-being of each other is not only the bedrock of a well-ordered society, but the heart of biblical morality itself.”
Donald Trump has proclaimed himself “proud to be a Christian,” but he sure doesn’t act like one, forever bearing false witness. He insulted Pope Francis and posted an AI-generated photo of himself in papal robes. Trump enjoys speaking power to Truth.
To deal with “the Donald,” Pope Leo has made Cardinal Robert McElroy, a prominent Church liberal, the new Archbishop of Washington, D.C. And a key ally of Leo, Cardinal Blaise Cupich of Chicago (and formerly Spokane) has strongly criticized deployment of troops to the Windy City.
Never again silence in the face of tyranny — as was seen in Pope Pius XII in the face of the Holocaust, as Jews of Rome were picked up at steps of the Vatican. Peter is standing up to Caesar.
Discover more from Post Alley
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
To describe Bangor as the ‘Auschwitz of Puget Sound’ is not only historically-inaccurate but politically-clumsy. Hunthausen fails to grasp the fundamental difference in intent between the two sites.
And you, Joel, have repeated Hunthausen’s error by praising a statement which does nothing but divert & confuse.
While it’s disheartening for me to learn that Hunthausen made such a remark, it serves as a reminder that all of us is capable of foolishness.