Biden administration stirs controversy in clashes with Catholics

The administration of President Joe Biden, America’s second Catholic president, has been in the middle of several high-profile conflicts with Catholic groups or churches.

Recently, Biden’s Pentagon ended its contract with Catholic priests who provided services to patients at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. His Justice Department advocated for an activist who attacked a Catholic church, and his Education Department suggested stripping protections for Catholic student groups on college campuses.

In addition, the FBI was found to have plotted to develop sources in traditional Catholic churches to spy on worshippers.

Biden has touted his Catholic faith in Ireland, where he is highlighting his Irish roots but faces a rocky relationship with church-going Catholic voters at home.

His support for abortion and his push for expanding transgender education and medical care to children have strained his credibility within the Catholic community.

Several Republican lawmakers responded in outrage to Pentagon’s decision to cut ties with Catholic priests during Holy Week, leading up to Easter, at Walter Reed. They questioned why the Defense Department decided to cut ties with the seminary that had provided pastoral services at the military hospital for nearly two decades and whether the replacement firm hired had the capability of providing Catholic priests to Walter Reed.

The lawmakers also sent a subpoena to FBI Director Chris Wray after it was revealed that the FBI had gathered covert information from at least one undercover source within Catholic churches in Virginia.

The Biden administration faced criticism from conservatives for offering a lenient plea deal to a liberal activist who destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary at a Catholic church in Washington state, scrawled “F*** Catholics” on the walls of the church, and sprayed paint in the face of a church worker. The Justice Department recommended that the attacker receive no jail time.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops objected to a proposed rule change at the Department of Education that would strip Catholic student groups of their rights. The Biden administration had moved to reverse a Trump-era rule that bars colleges and universities from withholding funding or access to campus facilities from a student group based on its religious beliefs.