Anti-Catholic bigotry

Richard A. Sokerka

One would think that in 2017 anti-Catholic bigotry would be a thing of the past.

But unfortunately it is not. It was on full display in of all places, the U.S. Senate, during what should have been a routine Senate confirmation hearing for a federal judgeship.

President Trump had nominated Amy Barrett, a respected law professor at the University of Notre Dame, for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

But during her hearing, Sen. Diane Feinstein fired the first volley of anti-Catholic bigotry; she was joined in this shameless display by fellow Democrat senators Dick Durbin and Al Franken.

All three focused solely on Barrett’s Catholicism to determine in their minds whether or not she was fit to be a federal judge.

Feinstein asked: “Why is it that so many of us on this side have this very uncomfortable feeling that — you know, dogma and law are two different things. And I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different. And I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country.”

Because she is faithful to the tenets of her Catholic faith, Feinstein dismisses Bennett’s qualifications to serve as a judge. Really? Would Feinstein have even considered asking that same question if the nominee had been a Muslim, Protestant, Evangelical, Hindu or Jew?

Feinstein’s question was a clear affront to Article Six of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits a religious test as a requirement for holding office.

The Wall Street Journal opined, “The ugly implication of Mrs. Feinstein’s words is underscored by the context. She deployed them to suggest Ms. Barrett’s faith would lead her to substitute her personal beliefs for the law, basing the accusation primarily on a law review article Ms. Barrett wrote in 1998 as a law clerk. Ms. Barrett and her co-author explicitly reached the opposite conclusion: ‘Judges cannot — nor should they try to — align our legal system with the Church’s moral teaching whenever the two diverge.’ The question addressed by the law review article was what Catholic judges ought to do when they conclude they cannot in good conscience apply the law as written because it clashes with their own moral views. If she was rattled by the question, Sen. Feinstein ought to have been reassured by the answer Ms. Barrett gave: They should recuse themselves.”

Standing up for Barrett was Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, who sent a letter to Feinstein, which in part read: “Your concern, as you expressed it, is that ‘dogma lives loudly in [Professor Barrett], and that is a concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country.’ I am one in whose heart ‘dogma lives loudly,’ as it has for centuries in the lives of many Americans, some of whom have given their lives in service to this nation. Indeed, it lived loudly in the hearts of those who founded our nation as one where citizens could practice their faith freely and without apology….. It is chilling to hear from a U.S. Senator that this might now disqualify someone from service as a federal judge. I ask you and your colleagues to respect those in whom ‘dogma lives loudly’ — which is a condition we call faith. For the attempt to live such faith while one upholds the law should command respect, not evoke concern.”

The type of questioning employed by the senators in a simple hearing for a federal judgeship should be a wake-up call to every Catholic in the United States. Know that it is part of a concerted effort by some governmental officials to disqualify people with strong religious views from the public square. And make no mistake about it: this movement to strike blow after blow at our religious freedoms is growing. Catholics need to let “dogma live loudly” within them and stand up for religious liberty, lest it be taken away from us by the very people elected to serve us and to protect it.