Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades Speaks to the Law School about the Catholic Church’s Teaching on Immigration and Religious Freedom
On November 17, Most Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne–South Bend, addressed the Law School in a lecture hosted by the Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic. Bishop Rhoades discussed urgent issues at the intersection of religious liberty and immigration in the United States.
Religious freedom and immigration have emerged as topics of significant concern to the U.S. bishops in recent months. Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released a “special message” lamenting the state of immigration policy and debate in the United States and calling on citizens and public officials to respect the God-given dignity of immigrants and to pursue “a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.” Pope Leo XIV recently echoed similar concerns.
Bishop Rhoades, who until earlier this month served as chair of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, expressed his support for the special message. He explained that the Committee for Religious Liberty had in recent years observed growing pressures facing both immigrants and the religious ministries that serve them. These pressures had become one of the Committee’s “top areas of concern.”
In the immigration context, there have been threats to the liberty both of the Church and of individual immigrants, the Bishop explained. From the perspective of the Church and its charitable ministries, there are burdens on the rights of the faithful to live out the Gospel by providing humanitarian and other assistance to immigrants in need. “Ministry to migrants is not peripheral to the work of the Church,” Bishop Rhoades stated. “It’s part of Christian discipleship.”
The Bishop lamented recent political actions that undermine the Church’s right to live out this aspect of the Gospel, such as some efforts to limit religious charities’ access to funding or officials that have characterized the provision of humanitarian aid as the “facilitation” of illegal entry by immigrants. In Texas, he noted, the state attorney general has launched investigations into two Catholic charitable ministries that serve immigrants. And last week, the Indiana attorney general announced an investigation into the Catholic Charities branch for Bishop Rhoades’s own diocese. In the face of these threats, Bishop Rhoades asserted, “We must preserve the freedom of Catholics and other people of faith to assist their communities and meet migrants’ basic human needs.”
Bishop Rhoades also highlighted recent infringements of the religious exercise of immigrants themselves. Early this year, the federal government rescinded its decades-old policy of refraining from immigration arrests in churches and other sensitive areas absent urgent circumstances. “We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship,” he said, noting that the USCCB has recently advocated for restoring these longstanding protections both in court and before Congress. Bishop Rhoades also recalled recent reports of Catholic clergy being refused permission to deliver Holy Communion and pastoral care.
Bishop Rhoades also emphasized the need for lawyers in particular to advocate for human dignity and the common good. “The Bishop’s address underscores the importance of our students’ work here in the Clinic,” said Professor John Meiser, faculty director of the Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic. “He reminds all of us that defending religious freedom means defending it on behalf of all people—and from threats of all kinds—no matter how complex the underlying political issue. No one would suggest that we can solve the vastly complicated border crisis. But we can, and ought, help serve the real human needs of those caught in it.”
Bishop Rhoades concluded by urging attendees to remember the millions of people around the world who are forced to flee their homes because of religious persecution. “We must continue to pray and to work for policies that welcome those escaping war, violence, poverty, and persecution.” The issue, the Bishop suggested, is larger than mere politics. “We have to be Catholic first before being a Democrat or a Republican. Our focus needs to be living the Gospel.”
Originally published by at religiousliberty.nd.edu on November 20, 2025.