{"id":106973,"date":"2025-12-23T23:20:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/106973\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T23:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:20:06","slug":"diocese-of-fresno-bishop-joseph-brennan-on-the-immigration-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/106973\/","title":{"rendered":"Diocese of Fresno Bishop Joseph Brennan on the immigration issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is produced from an episode of KVPR\u2019s Central Valley Daily podcast. Listen to all episodes here, and wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>. Central Valley Daily is supported by the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. If you have a story idea, email podcast@kvpr.org.\u00a0<\/p>\n

FRESNO, Calif. \u2013 The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has signaled how it plans to respond to the Trump administration\u2019s enforcement of immigration laws going into the new year and beyond.<\/p>\n

The bishops from all corners of the country met in Baltimore in November for the USCCB\u2019s fall plenary assembly and issued a rare Special Message<\/a> on the handling of immigration matters, including the detainment and deportation of immigrants.<\/p>\n

The message called for \u201cmeaningful reform of the nation\u2019s immigration laws and procedures.\u201d And it comes as immigration enforcement is front and center under the Trump administration \u2013 which promised to carry out the largest domestic deportation campaign in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

That promise from the administration has been met with support by those who voted for the president, and protest from those who have witnessed the operations being carried out in their communities. And it has broken a question out in the open about how the nation seeks to move forward with immigration, and what the role of religious institutions is on the matter.<\/p>\n

Several high-profile cases have highlighted the immigration enforcement campaign, such as the deportation of Venezuelan migrants<\/a> to a secretive maximum security prison in El Salvador despite court orders, and the detainment of even U.S. citizens<\/a> caught in street operations by immigration agents.<\/p>\n

The statement from the U.S. bishops emphasized the way immigration is not just a legal issue, but a moral one, according to Joseph Brennan, the bishop for the Diocese of Fresno<\/a> who voted in favor. The diocese oversees more than 1 million Catholics in central California.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are sons and daughters of a God who loves us,\u201d Brennan told KVPR\u2019s Central Valley Daily podcast in response to a question about why the Catholic is willing to speak on immigration matters.<\/p>\n

In their statement \u2013 which passed with 216 votes in favor, five against and three abstentions \u2013 the bishops said they \u201cpray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, where directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bishops’ message also reflects the broader direction of the Catholic Church under Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the U.S. Pope Leo has repeatedly emphasized the moral responsibility to protect migrants and refugees around the world.<\/p>\n

In one of his first public statements on immigration since being elected, Pope Leo said in October that “Someone who says I\u2019m against abortion but I\u2019m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s pro-life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Leo has called on governments and faith communities to reject policies that dehumanize immigrants and instead prioritize human dignity and family unity.<\/p>\n

Pope Leo\u2019s position on matters like immigration is bound to influence the U.S. Catholic leaders, who often cite Catholic social doctrine as the foundation for opposing mass deportations and advocating for humane immigration reform. Catholic social doctrine<\/a> is rooted not just in scripture but in the Church\u2019s roughly 2,000 year apostolic tradition.<\/p>\n

This moral framework also shapes how individual bishops engage with public policy at the local level. Bishop Brennan, who serves as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, said he is aware of the fear that exists among the immigrant community in his diocese.<\/p>\n

Brennan noted that immigrants \u201chave their own voice,\u201d but, in the current environment, they risk using it. In his role as bishop, he says he is compelled to be an advocate for their needs.<\/p>\n

He said the Diocese of Fresno offers “accompaniment,” or support for immigrants, as they navigate the landscape through various services offered at parishes. He said priests in the diocese understand the immigration issue deeply, since some of them had no legal status at some point and are now U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

Brennan said should an immigration agent approach a church in his diocese, the agents would be asked not to enter the sacred space but the church or parish would encourage the person being sought to cooperate.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has removed protections for schools and places of worship<\/a> from immigration enforcement. Typically those places were off limits for enforcement. But Brennan said despite policy changes, churches have not lost their sacred meaning that \u201cought not to be violated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Catholic churches have made public displays<\/a> to protest immigration policies. One church in Illinois displayed a Christmas nativity scene that was missing Mary and Joseph with a sign that said \u201cthe Holy Family is in hiding,\u201d due to ICE activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is produced from an episode of KVPR\u2019s Central Valley Daily podcast. Listen to all episodes here,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[29669,57687,57688,23556,27481,45133,512,37810,29670,51128,112,114,113],"class_list":["post-106973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-bishop","tag-bishop-brennan","tag-bishops","tag-catholic","tag-catholic-church","tag-catholicism","tag-central-valley","tag-central-valley-daily","tag-diocese","tag-diocese-of-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}