Pro-immigrant archbishop takes over D.C. church amid Trump crackdown
Pro-immigrant archbishop takes over D.C. church amid Trump crackdown© Allison Robbert/For The Washington Post
Cardinal Robert McElroy took over leadership of the D.C. archdiocese on Tuesday, bringing a well-known advocate for immigrant rights to one of the most prominent posts in the U.S. Catholic Church.
More than 3,500 people filled the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the country’s largest Catholic Church, for McElroy’s installation as archbishop. As is custom, Cardinal Christopher Pierre, the pope’s ambassador in DC, started the ceremony by asking McElroy if he would accept the position and “devote yourself to the people of God” in the D.C. archdiocese. McElroy said he accepted the position and then ascended to an elevated chair, where he was handed the archbishop’s crosier, a symbol of his new position.
McElroy gave a brief homily focused on the power of hope. “All of us are wounded, in pain, sinners,” he said. “Mercy and compassion must be our first instinct.” God’s vision of every human equal in dignity “deeply contrasts with our world.”
During the ceremony, a handful of advocates stood on the sidewalk outside the basilica with signs calling for more transparency in the Church.
The San Franciscan native is seen by many church-watchers as a counterbalance to the Trump administration, which has called for mass deportation of immigrants and slashing funding for programs for the needy.
McElroy, 71, takes leadership of the archdiocese, which includes D.C. and suburban and rural parts of Southern Maryland, at a time when it is facing a budget crunch and potential fallout from Trump administration efforts to cut funding for some church priorities.
It also comes as high-level members of the Trump administration and allies of the president have leveled attacks on religious groups, including Catholics. Earlier this year, Vice President JD Vance — who converted to Catholicism in 2019 — criticized the U.S. Catholic Church’s efforts to help immigrants and refugees, suggesting the Church is motivated by money, and alleged without evidence that it works with millions of “illegal immigrants.”
About 35 percent of the Washington Archdiocese’s budget comes from government funding, so potential Trump administration cuts to federal social programs could impact the kinds of service the diocese will be able to provide, said Monsignor John Enzler, former head of Catholic Charities and a longtime leader in the local diocese. An archdiocesan spokeswoman declined comment, saying staff was “busy.”
McElroy, appointed in early January, is one of the country’s leading Catholic clerics to espouse Pope Francis’s vision of a welcoming church focused on the poor and marginalized. In his previous post as head of the diocese of San Diego, which shares a border with Mexico, he was known for his pastoral approach to migrants and outreach to the LGBTQ+ community.
Catholic teaching, McElroy said last month, says nations have the right to control their border — “as long as it’s done with dignity to people.”
“What’s going on now is a wider cultural attack upon all of those who are undocumented … many fleeing persecution and violence,” he said.
More than one-third of the D.C. archdiocese, which includes about 667,000 Catholics, are Latino.
While McElroy speaks out regularly for Catholic teachings that may clash with the new administration, he will not seek a confrontation with the White House, Catholic leaders have said.
“Pope Francis is sending a pastor, not a message to Washington,” said John Carr, a former longtime lobbyist for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on peace and justice issues. “Cardinal McElroy will be principled, not political. His priorities will be moral, not ideological. He will be civil, but not silent in challenging the administration when their policies threaten the poor and vulnerable.”
McElroy is taking over leadership of an archdiocese that needs to get on solid financial and spiritual footing. Some younger priests, who tend to be more theologically conservative, have said they are wary of McElroy welcoming LGBTQ people without reiterating traditional teaching, which prohibits sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage.
And two Catholic outlets, the Pillar and National Catholic Reporter, reported over the last year that the archdiocese is running a deficit as high as $10 million. The diocese’s financial issues are related to multiple factors, the outlets reported, including a major sexual misconduct scandal that erupted in 2018, as well as the pandemic shutdowns and a failure to adapt fast enough to a period when many weren’t coming to church to put money in the basket. The church is also receiving about $5 million less a year from congregants, said Enzler, the former head of Catholic Charities.
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