One California bishop’s decision to excuse Catholic parishioners from their Sunday duties—just to avoid the next immigration raid—reveals the mind-boggling twists of modern America, where law-abiding citizens are left wondering if the rule of law still means anything at all.
California Bishop Excuses Mass Attendance—To Shield Immigrants from ICE
In a move that would have sounded like satire in saner times, the Diocese of San Bernardino is telling its flock: “You don’t have to come to church—Uncle Sam might be lurking in the parking lot.” Bishop Alberto Rojas, citing “real fear” gripping his parishes after immigration detentions on church grounds, has effectively canceled the ancient Catholic obligation to attend Sunday Mass for all who fear ICE. This exemption, announced July 9, lands as the latest curveball in a nation where the rights of citizens and the privileges extended to those here illegally seem to have swapped places.
Let’s set aside, for a moment, the mind-blowing irony: millions of Americans still drag themselves to work, file taxes, and obey the law, while the only religious duty left is to stay home if ICE is in the neighborhood. The bishop says he wants to stand with the “most vulnerable,” but what about the millions of Americans who just want their communities safe, their churches respected, and their laws enforced? Good luck getting that kind of solidarity from the powers that be.
Church as Sanctuary or State as Warden?
Bishop Rojas’s dispensation is not just a nod to fear among immigrant Catholics—it’s a glaring spotlight on the confusion sown by years of selective immigration enforcement. For decades, American churches have served as sanctuaries for the desperate. But now, with ICE detaining individuals on parish properties (DHS insists, not inside buildings—just outside, as if that makes it better), the line between sanctuary and state surveillance has blurred beyond recognition. Parishioners now weigh their faith against the risk of arrest, and the Church is left to patch together home Masses and Communion for those hiding behind locked doors.
Many on the left will call this “compassion.” But where’s the compassion for the law-abiding citizen, watching institutions contort themselves to accommodate those who bypassed the rules? Families that built these parishes now see them transformed into holding areas for policy experiments. With every new dispensation or exemption, the message is clear: follow the rules, and you’ll get last place at the table.
Policy, Precedent, and the Erosion of Common Sense
This isn’t the first time a bishop has suspended Mass obligations—remember COVID? At least then, the threat was a virus, not a government agency. Now, the precedent is set: if the law might be enforced near a church, the fundamental tenets of religious practice can be bent or broken. The Diocese of Nashville did it first, San Bernardino followed, and don’t bet against a wave of copycats in the months ahead. Meanwhile, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security play a game of semantics, claiming they respect church sanctity while picking up targets in the parking lot.
For America’s frustrated majority, the implications are as outrageous as they are predictable. The more churches are forced to become safe havens for illegal immigrants, the more trust erodes—between communities, with law enforcement, and even between parishioners and church leadership. Donations dwindle, attendance drops, and the institutions that once bound neighborhoods together fracture along lines drawn not by faith, but by fear and politics. This is the legacy of endless government overreach and an immigration system that punishes the law-abiding while protecting those who game the system.