Two Bishops Regret Political Use of White House Prayer
The White House did not confirm whether bishops consented to posting Oval Office images and called Trump the greatest president for Catholic Americans.
Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines has joined Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob in regretting how an Oct. 22 White House prayer encounter was turned to partisan use. The White House did not address whether the bishops consented to the public release of photos and video from the Oval Office.
In a statement, Bishop Joensen said the meeting “was exploited for partisan political purpose.” “I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting,” he wrote, while remaining “resolute in my openness to engaging and praying for political leaders.”
Asked about consent for distributing the images, the White House press office did not confirm it. It said, “There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump.”
Apology From Abroad
On Oct. 25, Archbishop Grob issued a statement titled “A Public Apology.” He said he had received “many questions and comments” and “distraught” messages after the material appeared online without the bishops’ consent for public distribution. The gathering “was in no way an endorsement of the president, his policies, or his party,” he wrote, expressing “a heavy sadness… for the fact that something so sacred… prayer to our Heavenly Father, would be manipulated in that way.”
“I did not go without reservations. I wish I had heeded them. I apologize for any damage my actions have done,” Archbishop Grob added. He noted concerns from those who saw the visit as a political event and from people “wounded because of the ways they or their family had been harmed by the president’s policies.”
Private Talks, Public Images
Archbishop Grob and 11 other U.S. Catholic bishops spent about 90 minutes at the White House with staff and policy advisers on immigration enforcement, religious worker visas, human dignity, abortion, and education tax credits. The invitation came in mid-September through the Heritage Foundation, as the second of two such meetings. The bishops were told it would be a private discussion, with possible appearances by Catholic cabinet members and an opportunity for private prayer with President Donald Trump.
After the talks, the group entered the Oval Office, was greeted by the president, received commemorative tokens, and was directed to stand behind him while Denver Archbishop James Golka led a prayer. Photos were taken and a video was recorded without their knowledge. The White House posted both shortly afterward.
The episode came less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, with early voting already under way in Wisconsin and Iowa. Members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops hold diverse views on the administration’s policies, including on immigration and religious liberty.