America’s Catholic Bishops Fan Flames of Violence Against ICE, by by John Zmirak

By John Zmirak, Chronicles Magazine, (Complicit Clergy), August 15, 2025

Life comes at you fast.

Last week I wrote a piece at The Stream asking U.S. Catholic bishops and the priests at their command to treat illegal immigrants like the actual, adult, and full human beings they are by calling on them to repent. That’s the Church’s first job, full stop. We’re here to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the central tenet of which is that each of us is a sinner who needs to repent and reform his life. Violating just, duly enacted laws is sinful, especially when it concerns a grave matter such as citizenship.

On July 20, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski held a very public protest outside the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility, accompanied by a few dozen Knights of Columbus on motorcycles. They recited the rosary and called attention to the fact that Florida officials had not yet allowed the Archdiocese to send in chaplains to serve the immigrants. Last week, Florida came to an agreement with the Church, and chaplains can now go into Alligator Alcatraz and celebrate Mass. That’s a win for all involved.

The statement from Archbishop Wenski didn’t mention whether the chaplains would be hearing confessions. That got me to thinking: Would any of the priests who ministered to these illegals point out that breaking our immigration laws is immoral? The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that governments must regulate immigration, and that migrants are obliged to obey local laws.

Thus, any priest who heard a detainee’s confession ought to inquire as to whether that migrant has broken any of a long list of laws—for example, those that forbid: entering our country illegally; working here off the books and outside labor laws without paying taxes; making false persecution claims (i.e., lying) to gain asylum; skipping court dates to adjudicate such claims; and committing identity theft via Social Security fraud.

For sincere Catholics to gain absolution, the sinner must show penitence and a firm purpose of amendment. Sinners must at least mean to stop committing the sin and, if possible, make reparation. For illegal immigrants, that would mean returning to their home countries. And the burden of that journey has never been easier as ICE has never been more happy to help.

The only sound justification for priests and bishops refusing to rebuke illegal immigrants for committing these sins would be if U.S. immigration laws were intrinsically unjust, if illegals were akin to fugitive slaves escaping the unjust condition of servitude, or Jews escaping Nazi persecution. Bishops making such a ludicrous, insupportable claim deserve to be mocked.

Continue reading at Chronicles Magazine

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