One of America's largest Catholic dioceses said parishioners can skip mass over deportation raid fears
Church leadership with the Diocese of San Bernardino, which spans San Bernardino and Riverside counties in California with 92 parishes and more than 1.7 million Catholics, issued a rare decree Tuesday following immigration arrests on church properties.
San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas issued the decision 'in light of the pastoral needs of our diocese and the concerns expressed by many of our brothers and sisters regarding fears of attending Mass due to potential immigration enforcement actions by civil authorities,' according to his letter.
Fears of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids 'may deter some members of our diocese from fulfilling obligation to attend Sunday Mass and holy days of obligation,' Rojas wrote.
Such fear 'constitutes a grave inconvenience that may impede the spiritual good of the faithful,' he added.
The decree also encourages pastors and other faith leaders to 'provide compassionate support to those affected by this fear, ensuring they feel welcome and safe in our communities,' and to seek out 'alternative means' for parishioners to receive sacraments, including baptisms and communion.
Last month, Rojas chastised Donald Trump's administration after federal agents descended on church property at two parishes within the diocese
"It should be no surprise that this is creating a tremendous amount of fear, confusion and anxiety for many,' Rojas wrote in a letter to the community on June 23. 'It is not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — which guides us in all that we do.'
Days earlier, federal agents chased several men into a church parking lot in St. Adelaide Parish in Highland and arrested a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes in Montclair, according to church leaders.
'Authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately, without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God,' Rojas wrote at the time.
The arrests follow the Trump administration's decision to rescind previous ICE policy that prohibited enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as places of worship as well as schools and hospitals as the White House pursues an aggressive anti-immigration agenda with a goal of making at least 3,000 arrests a day.
In February, more than two dozen religious groups representing thousands of congregations sued the Trump administration to restore the policy, fearing a 'chilling' effect that violates their right to freely practice their religion while preventing others from being able to access church services such as food pantries and English-language classes.
A federal judge ultimately partially granted a restraining order that blocked ICE from enforcement actions in roughly 1,700 places of worship in 35 states and Washington, D.C.
But in April, a Trump-appointed judge sided with the administration in a similar case brought by more than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans.
District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington, D.C., determined that ICE had performed only a handful of enforcement actions on church grounds, stating that 'places of worship are being singled out as special targets." The judge argued that any drops in church attendance could not be definitively linked to ICE actions.
'That evidence suggests that congregants are staying home to avoid encountering ICE in their own neighborhoods, not because churches or synagogues are locations of elevated risk,' Friedrich wrote.
The letter from San Bernadino's bishop comes as Catholic leadership across the country — and at the Vatican — grapple with the administration's immigration
Pope Leo XIV, whose papacy began less than four months in Trump's presidency, had previously criticized the administration's immigration policies and rhetoric.
Weeks before his death, Leo's predecessor Pope Francis wrote a letter to Catholic bishops in the United States describing mass deportations as a 'major crisis' that damage 'the dignity of many men and women.'
San Diego Bishop Michael Pham, the first U.S. bishop appointed by Leo and first person of Vietnamese descent to be made a diocesan bishop in the country, has attended immigration court hearings in solidarity with immigrants facing removal from the country.
Washington, D.C. Cardinal Robert McElroy — a close ally of Leo who was elevated to church leadership by Francis — has also criticized the administration's agenda of 'mass, indiscriminate deportation of men and women and children and families which literally rips families apart and is intended to do so.'
And in Los Angeles, the largest archdiocese in the country, Archbishop Jose Gomez accused the administration of having 'no immigration policy beyond the stated goal of deporting thousands of people each day.'
'This is not policy, it is punishment, and it can only result in cruel and arbitrary outcomes,' wrote the bishop, who is also a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico. 'Already we are hearing stories of innocent fathers and mothers being wrongly deported, with no recourse to appeal.'
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