Hey Archbishop Gregory: Here’s What’s TRULY ‘Baffling and Reprehensible’

“I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles,” said Archbishop Wilton Gregory after President Donald Trump visited the St. John Paul II Shrine in Washington.

Do you want to know what I find baffling and reprehensible, Archbishop Gregory?

I find it baffling and reprehensible:

• … that a Catholic archbishop would issue a patently partisan statement at a time when our nation is already deeply divided.
• … that any responsible leader would issue an inflammatory statement without checking the facts—and learning, in this case, that Trump’s visit to the Shrine was not connected with the demonstrations and riots in our cities, had been planned well in advance, and was intended to focus attention on the international quest for religious freedom—which, the last time I checked, was a cause that did not violate Catholic religious principles.
• … that a Catholic prelate evidently didn’t bother to contact an important Catholic institution, to hear its side of the story, before issuing a public condemnation. The Knights of Columbus, who administer the St. John Paul II Shrine, have been scrupulously loyal to the Catholic hierarchy; they deserve at least this elementary courtesy in return.
• …that a Catholic archbishop ripped into the President at a time when Trump was advancing a cause that is, in fact, unequivocally in accordance with Catholic principles. While at the Shrine, Trump signed an executive order that directs the US government to make religious freedom a high priority in foreign affairs, and provides funding for that campaign. Whatever else Catholics might think about White House initiatives, this one deserved support, not angry denunciation.

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