Ohio Bishops: Springfield Falsehoods Risk Igniting a Dangerous Blaze
National Catholic Register, 27 September 2024
Ohio’s Catholic bishops and governor emphasize the need for honesty and integrity in political discourse, especially among Catholic leaders.
Is Sen. JD Vance telling the truth about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating pets?
If not, should a Catholic political candidate be corrected for spreading falsehoods? The Catholic bishops of Ohio have done just that, as has the Catholic Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine.
Former president Donald Trump repeated the claim about Haitians killing and eating pets in his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. Vance, who represents Ohio in the Senate, repeatedly has made the same claim about his state.
The controversy illustrates a different concern about Catholic candidates for political office. For many generations, the usual question has been whether the policies of a particular Catholic candidate cohere with Catholic social teaching. For example, 40 years ago, Catholic vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro of New York City was corrected by then-Archbishop John O’Connor regarding abortion. The 1984 campaign included an extended debate over Catholics and abortion, with Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York, also Catholic, rejecting O’Connor’s teaching in a landmark address at the University of Notre Dame.
Unlike that, the Springfield controversy is not so much about policy as how public arguments are being made.
Springfield has seen a very large influx of Haitian immigrants in recent years. Local officials and employers stress that the immigrants are legal and needed by local businesses. Citizens also identify problems arising from the influx, including provision of education, housing and medical care, as well as more dangerous traffic. A misreported social-media post about Haitians killing, stringing up and eating cats got wide circulation. Trump made his “eating the pets” claim in the debate. The aftermath led to multiple bomb threats in Springfield, with school closures and deployment of state troopers as a result.
Vance — who spent much of the summer on the defensive regarding his previous comments to Tucker Carlson about how “childless cat ladies” do not have as much of a stake in the future of the country as parents — now found himself in another pet-related furor. Were the Haitians in Springfield eating pets, as he claimed? Were they responsible for a “massive increase” in communicable diseases, as he also claimed?
Local officials — Gov. DeWine, Springfield’s mayor, local police — said that the Trump/Vance claims were false.
Catholics clashed, too, over the Vance claims. Vance is Catholic, having converted to the faith in 2019. Given his prominence as an author and commentator, his conversion was widely noted. Upon his election to the Senate in 2022 and nomination for vice president this summer, Vance was considered by many to be representative of a new generation of Catholic politicians.
Thus the Catholic reaction in Ohio was striking.
On Sept. 19, the Ohio bishops issued a blistering joint letter against those who “perpetuate ill will toward anyone involved based on unfounded gossip.” They clearly meant Trump and Vance, as they defended “the residents of Springfield, Ohio, [who] struggle with violent threats and life disruptions fueled by unfettered social media posts.”
The statement was signed by 10 Ohio Catholic bishops, led by Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati, of which Springfield is part, and including Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo and Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus.
Specifically addressed to the claims Vance and others have made about Haitians in Springfield, the bishops made their own the admonition of St. James: “Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. … With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:5-6, 9).
It is noteworthy that the bishops are not making a public-policy argument. They note that “if we remain true to our principles, we can have a dialogue about immigration without scapegoating groups of people for societal issues beyond their control.”
The objection is not to a policy proposal but to the conduct of the public debate. The bishops object to falsehoods being spread to score political points, with real consequences for the vulnerable. While the bishops do not explicitly say that Vance prompted their joint letter, it is reasonable to think that his prominent Catholic faith was a factor. The message is clear: Spreading “unfounded gossip” to “scapegoat” immigrants is not how Catholics in public life ought to conduct themselves.
Given how reluctant bishops are — especially on a statewide level — to enter into the fray of a presidential election, their collective disgust with the Trump/Vance rhetoric must have been intense.
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