Politics and Catholicism - 3/16/2026

Short and sweet today. Caroline lost a dear friend on Saturday, and we're a bit stressed, disheveled emotionally, and trying to get ready to go to Phoenix for the funeral.

Catholic Bishop Robert Barron

In the last week or two, I've become aware of comments on current political issues from a Catholic Bishop named Robert Barron. Bishop Barron. What strikes me is how unabashedly conservative Barron is. I am quite used to almost every leader in the Catholic Church coming across as quite liberal... quite. This goes from the Pope on down. I did some looking for more info on this, because Barron's positions not only mirror my own, but because I rarely, if ever, hear anything similar from others. In doing so, I did find that as far as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) go, Barron is pretty much alone in some of his political views. Here's where something kind of hit me.

I am quite used to hearing leftist kinds of proclamations from our Bishops. Heck, Catholic Charities was one of, if not the single biggest active entity importing and transporting illegal immigrants into the U.S. heartland. But, it dawned on me. Rather than being happy, thinking "At last, a Catholic leader I can agree with!" Instead I felt that I was no more interested in Barron's politics than I am from all those lefties.

I understand that there are and will always be times when the Church's advocacy and my country's best interests are not aligned. The Catholic Church's primary mission is salvific: evangelizing mankind to know Jesus via the Gospel. What flows naturally from that is advocating and teaching us that we, as Catholics and as Christians, Christian Catholics if you will, should strive to be Christlike as best as we can. My country's border, sovereignty, system of government, and everything that goes into preserving the precious union of states, can and will at times, often even, be at odds with the Bishops. I can live with that.

I promised I'd be short and sweet today. I am fine with liberal Catholic Bishops. I understand who they are, and what they are advocating, and why. I'm also fine with Bishop Robert Barron, who it seems I often agree with. But the punchline is this: stick to the Gospel. All of them. Please. The more they keep their politics separate from executing the mission of evangelizing and saving, the happier I am and will be.

One more, last prayer request, please. My cousin Mark is undergoing very serious surgery today. I won't go into details to protect his privacy, but it's serious. If you could please also pray for Mark Miller, I would greatly appreciate it.

May God bless the soul of Honey Bonanno, and all her loved ones, and may he watch over my cousin Mark today in surgery and then all during his recovery. I ask in the name of my Savior, Jesus, the Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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