BALTIMORE (OSV News) ─ Two Catholic bishops who are members of the Religious Liberty Commission established by President Donald Trump told OSV News Nov. 11 their goal is to make recommendations that will safeguard religious freedom for Americans of all faiths, not only for Catholics and other Christians.
In May, Trump signed an executive order creating the commission, including as members Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota. In a joint interview with the pair at the U.S. bishops' fall plenary assembly in Baltimore, Cardinal Dolan said, "I think we both agree -- and I'd like to think the other members (of the commission -- that we have to battle the caricature that the defense of religious freedom is some right-wing issue."
"It's really a liberal issue, any defense of human rights is kind of classically considered a liberal issue, the rights of conscience," Cardinal Dolan said, arguing the Founding Fathers and "other astute commentators like (Alexis) de Tocqueville" thought the issue "just to be quintessential."
The commission was tasked with producing "a comprehensive report on the foundations of religious liberty in America, strategies to increase awareness of and celebrate America's peaceful religious pluralism, current threats to religious liberty, and strategies to preserve and enhance protections for future generations," the White House said at the time. The commission was placed under the purview of the Department of Justice.
Immigration was a frequent topic at the bishops' fall meeting, with many raising concerns about several aspects of the Trump administration's immigration policy, and with the assembly approving a message for the pope Nov. 11 that they "will continue to stand with migrants and defend everyone's right to worship free from intimidation."
The issue of ensuring that immigrants held in detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are able to receive sacraments was a key aspect of that topic at the meeting.
Cardinal Dolan noted that one of the bishops who spoke out publicly on the matter was Bishop Barron.
Bishop Barron said he raised the concern to some "middle-level" Trump administration officials that "I think this could well become a religious liberty question, if people are being denied access to Communion."
Cardinal Dolan said that he has personally worked to make sure that ICE activity doesn't encroach too closely near churches in his archdiocese.
"I'd like to think some of that advocacy of us being able to bring up some incidents of limitations of religious freedom might come up" during the commission's work, he said.
Critics of the commission -- which include the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State -- have argued the commission favors Christianity or Protestant Christianity in particular, with others even arguing it is an effort to impose Christian nationalism.
Bishop Barron said he disputed those "weird distortions, that it's just a Trumpian game, or it's Christian nationalism."
"I think those are really inappropriate and crazy," he said, arguing that the commissioners represent multiple faith traditions.
Asked if they feel that commissioners are ultimately free to make recommendations to the president that may be at odds with Trump administration policy, both replied affirmatively.
"Yeah, I feel free to do that," Bishop Barron said, adding, "I've been invited by the president to advise him in a matter of policy."
"Along with two dozen other people," Cardinal Dolan added.
"Because I don't feel the least like I'm here just to apologize for the Trump administration," Bishop Barron said. "I see my role as being a Catholic voice around the table to help, you know, articulate this policy (of religious freedom). But no, I don't feel any hesitation."
"I have not felt any heavy hand," Cardinal Dolan said.
Calling Trump's address to one of the commission's hearings a "courteous visit," Cardinal Dolan said there has been "no duress there or no 'you got to do this.' I think he's saying, 'Let me know.' He's saying, 'You as a group sort of have a box seat on what's going on in religious conversation and religious activity. Let me know if you see that the playing field is not fair and level.'"
At the commission's first hearing in June, Bishop Barron pointed to Washington state's mandatory reporter law that the state's bishops said could force priests to violate the seal of confession. Washington state's government and its Catholic bishops reached an agreement in October over that law.
Asked if that agreement addressed their concerns about the law for the short term, Bishop Barron noted similar laws lacking what's known as a penitent exception still exist in other states and it would "be great if we just get a national resolution."
The bishops also reiterated their concern for having the commission make recommendations to safeguard all faiths, including ones that have small U.S. populations.
A topic that came up at the commission's June hearing was a case from an Indigenous coalition, Apache Stronghold, that asked them to protect an Apache sacred site from destruction by a copper mining giant.
A broad range of organizations from multiple faith groups ─ including the U.S. Catholic bishops ─ had argued the high court should hear the coalition's plea, because the case has serious implications for the scope of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take it up, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a stinging dissent arguing, "Before allowing the government to destroy the Apaches' sacred site, this Court should at least have troubled itself to hear their case."
Cardinal Dolan said he was also concerned about the implications of a case where a Rastafarian man said Louisiana prison officials cut off his dreadlocks in violation of his religious beliefs.
"This shows the diversity of religious freedom," he said. "So we'd better be open to all of it, absolutely."
Another area they expressed concern about was an uptick in antisemitism, which Cardinal Dolan called "particularly dramatically odious."
"I'm worried increasingly about this antisemitism on the right, this whole issue that's just kind of popped up recently, people on even on the Catholic right, who are expressing themselves in a very antisemitic way," Bishop Barron said. "That's dangerous business."
Cardinal Dolan stressed that while international religious freedom is not the commission's mandate, he hoped they could also discuss it.
"We will get our brother bishops from around the world -- I got it at the conclave, who will say, 'Thanks to the American bishops for being so ardent in defending religious freedom, not just for you, but because we can point to America as the way things should be, and we can tell our government, look what they do in America,'" he said. "So we, I think we also have an obligation internationally, to protect that right of religious freedom."
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Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
