Divided State: What Bishop Budde Got Right and Deadly Wrong

‘Human dignity is not a person’s immigration status,’ beautifully declares the US Congress of Catholic Bishops. Human dignity is, in part, accepting one’s male or female self. Jesus brings justice by advocating for what is essential to all humans, made in His image.

Not easy. Most of the guys who work at my fav coffee joint pretend to be girls. Unconvincing and socially confusing. I try to relate but stumble because I do not know who stands before me. Trying to erase one’s biological sex is inhumane, starting with the ‘transitioning’ person.

As developing human beings, we just want to belong—to be known and blessed in our unique personhood that is foundationally either male or female. ‘Trans’ culture makes that impossible. Teachers, pastors, counselors, politicians and parents who think themselves ‘merciful’ for championing another’s false sexual self should think again. They contribute to a living hell.

Trump is right: his executive order to define sexuality in two parts—male or female—is a common sense truth that provides a track on which all persons can make sense of reality. Whether we like it or not, each of us is a sexual ‘self’ encased in a body—a guy’s or a girl’s. Some of us need a little more help integrating that as a good thing. So be it. Let’s provide the help that makes people thrive.

When Episcopal Bishop Budde publicly exhorted Trump at his inauguration to be merciful to rainbow families, she meant to say: ‘Leave them alone; you scare them by taking away their ever-expanding list of sexual selves.’ Trump is being merciful by insisting on reality for all persons. Giving people what they ‘want’ in their troubled selves is not mercy. It’s advocating bad solutions for deep problems. Pastors should know better and not publicly convey their ignorance.

On the other hand, Budde scored when she implored Trump to be merciful to immigrants by not criminalizing them. Shout it from the rooftops. Aliens in America are not remotely equivalent to persons insisting on sexual re-identification. The mess we’ve made of the border requires nuance and compassion as families risk a divisive, tenuous future. (I realize immigration is a complicated issue; I simply offer my lay, not expert, opinion.)

Catholic Bishops said it best: dignity doesn’t hinge on citizenship. The Church’s insistence is modest and just. While Biden provided ‘protected’ spaces from immigration enforcement like schools, churches and health care facilities, Trump has rescinded those spaces, making them fair game for raids. ‘All people have a right to fulfill their duty to God without fear. Turning places of care, healing, and solace into places of fear and uncertainty for those in need…will not make our communities safer,’ says the Church.

Amen! Gilded America retreats into a tarnished age by fearmongering. Let’s fix the border and treat valuable contributors to American life with dignity. Give them back protected spaces like churches. Trump, restrain yourself. Have mercy on aliens, for you and your people were once aliens, too. And J.D.Vance, please don’t say dumb stuff like the USCCB is more interested in their bottom line than humanitarian concerns. Unfair and unjust.

Bishop Budde, you err in advocating for immigrants in the same breath you champion bad sexual solutions for vulnerable people. Apples and oranges. Human dignity belongs to all people, beginning with persons split off from their sexuality and extending to careful expressions of justice for aliens in America. We need a united, nuanced Gospel!

In her double-barreled exhortation, Budde misfires and splits the Gospel. She widens the divided state we are in. I expect nothing less from Trump (his way or the highway) but more from the Church of Jesus Christ. May all Christians make every effort in this season to nuance the Gospel with mercy and truth.

Watch Andrew's vlog or listen on Desert Streaming wherever you get your podcasts.