The Diocese of Gaylord recently published an article on its website, “Religious Liberty Report Aims to Help Catholics Bring the Spirit of the Gospel to Public Life”, reviewing a recent long-winded report of the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Titled “Annual Report on the State of Religious Liberty in the United States”, this 52 page report listed a set of major concerns regarding religious liberty. According to the article:
The six areas of critical concern—threats and opportunities—for religious liberty in 2026 are:
- Political and anti-religious violence
- Unjust terms and conditions on federal grants, and unreliability of government
- Access to sacraments for ICE detainees and immigration enforcement at houses of worship
- School choice and the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit
- Repeal of provisions that prevent religious organizations from participating in government programs
- Further repudiation of gender ideology
In typical USCCB fashion, however, the Report is weak in its handling of a variety of issues regarding gender ideology and illegal immigration. The term illegal alien is never used; furthermore, the notion that coming here illegally can be contrary to Church teaching (as Catholic Church teaching is clear that suitable and appropriate government rules and regulations are sinful for Catholics to disobey as long as they do not contravene natural or Church law) is not discussed. What is concerning about this Report is the amount of print space allotted to complaining about a lack of government funding for USCCB-sponsored activities. Instead of trying to distance itself from government sponsorship (and entanglement with government rules when you take money from the government), the Report laments moves by the Trump administration last year to withhold funding to the USCCB. This funding was cut off after irregularities were highlighted regarding the lack of stewardship of government dollars in “resettlement” of immigrants, including children, into the United States. According to the Report:
The administration made an unexplained decision to suspend funding for federal refugee assistance programs, which led the USCCB to file a lawsuit against the government and ultimately to end its refugee resettlement program. The Department of Homeland Security issued new terms and conditions for their grants, which states that grant recipients must cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, cannot serve undocumented immigrants, and cannot operate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The changes that have been made with some grant programs thus far have been poorly communicated and seemingly ad hoc, with little explanation offered for the rationale behind the changes.
Apparently, the folks at the USCCB haven’t been reading or listening to much of the Administration’s concerns about government waste and fraud. Perhaps the USCCB could contact the Lepanto Institute for more information regarding the waste of government money of USCCB dollars, most notably related to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which is an arm of the USCCB. One can add to that the findings of contradiction of Church teaching in the USCCB-related organizations. Many of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have had little success in showing transparency and accountability when it comes to illegal immigration.
The Report’s one sided take on immigration promotes distrust among the faithful. Is the USCCB really worried about people, or is it worried about taking sides on the issue of immigration? When religious leaders take sides on an issue and teach contrary to what the Church teaches, then the trust and confidence people have for their religious leaders disappears and the leaders become irrelevant. Unfortunately, for many of our bishops, this is the case. Nobody listens to them anymore.
Also interesting is the seemingly blatant dependence on government to fill the financial needs of the USCCB. Instead of getting its financing from the faithful, the USCCB has relied on the US government for over half of its funding. (This may hopefully change with moves by the Trump administration to cut off at least some of the funding to the USCCB). Reliance on government for your budget is not appropriate, especially when money talks and governments can apply financial pressure at their whim. This leads to an erosion of Church functioning and interdependence among the faithful and their clergy. This interdependence, when fruitful, favors transparency, accountability, and a fulfillment of the Church’s mandate to be a community dedicated to holiness and helping each other. There is no need for the USCCB to be concerned about the Catholic in the pew when their dollars are, for the majority, being given to them by the government.
The Diocese of Gaylord participates in the above discussions when it posts these articles on its website. We hope that fruitful discussions can be had among the faithful to reflect on these issues when they are donating to the Diocese (which gives some of its budget to USCCB-sponsored activities) or when they are discussing the above issues in their parishes.