“Surely the fuss surrounding the twelve Catholic bishops who visited the White House and prayed with President Trump is totally ridiculous?”

N.B. If it was Biden would the reaction be the same? He was an actual scandal: a baptized Catholic who supported the legal murder if unborn humans and officiated a simulated marriage ceremony with two men at the DC VP residence. I had more of a problem with fraud Paula White inserting herself in the middle of legit clergy for a photo op.

Mark Lambert @sitsio:

Surely the fuss surrounding the twelve Catholic bishops who visited the White House and prayed with President Trump is totally ridiculous? I don't think they were wrong to meet him, and they certainly weren't wrong to pray with him. Bishops should engage with political leaders, particularly when important moral questions are at stake. The problem, of course, is that the photographs and video were subsequently circulated, in a deliberate attempt to give the impression of episcopal support for Trump ahead of the midterms. Several bishops have since expressed regret, saying their meeting was exploited for political purposes. I'm not sure I like that they did that & it shows, in a way, how terrified they are of their image & they know what they were doing and why, the fact that they can't articulate that clearly seems to me to be a sort of lack of faith.

But here's what I find rather amusing.

Most enthusiastic Trump supporters I know are deeply suspicious of the USCCB, particularly over immigration and what they see as its progressive tendencies. Meanwhile, Catholics who enthusiastically support the bishops' positions on those issues are hardly Trump's natural constituency! Of course, these twelve bishops weren't officially representing the USCCB, but the irony remains.

The Catholic Church doesn't fit neatly into American party politics, and nor should she. Republicans may appreciate her teaching on abortion while disagreeing with her approach to immigration. Democrats may applaud her advocacy for migrants while rejecting her teaching on abortion and sexual morality.

I suspect the bishops were a little naive about how their visit might be presented, but I certainly wouldn't want them to stop engaging with political leaders. The Church must be able to speak to those in power, challenge them when necessary and pray for them without being treated as an endorsement of their politics. Surely that's something Catholics on both sides of the political divide ought to understand?