Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer recently angered Catholics with a video sketch promoting the CHIPS Act. In the video, she feeds a Dorito chip to an influencer, who receives it on the tongue; bishops accused her of “mocking” the Eucharist, though her defenders argued that the sketch was inspired by a TikTok trend. Whitmer apologized for how the video “had been construed,” but the damage had already been done. “People of this state and across the country have grown tired of and continue to express their alarm at the bar of civility and respect toward people of faith lowering by the day,” said the CEO of the Michigan Catholic Conference.
Whether or not Whitmer intended to mock Catholics, the backlash reflects a certain truth: Too often, Catholics are the subject of progressive disdain and hostility, especially when it comes to abortion and religious freedom. Just three days ago, Vice President Kamala Harris said that, if elected, she would reject religious exemptions for abortion, which would force healthcare providers to violate their conscience: “I don’t think we should be making concessions when we’re talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body.”
During her time in the Senate, Harris was a vocal supporter, and even a co-sponsor, of the Equality Act. If passed federally, the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops says the Equality Act would: prevent religious institutions that hold to traditional teachings on sexual morality from obtaining commercial bank loans; force religiously operated spaces such as church halls to host functions that violate their beliefs; require women to share locker-room and shower facilities with men and boys; shut down thousands of faith-based charities; and mandate religious medical providers to perform abortions and “gender transitions.” In other words, the Equality Act would be a tremendous hurdle to the extensive charitable work that the Catholic Church is doing across the country.
Catholics in Michigan already know this. In 2023, Gov. Whitmer effectively made the Equality Act the law of the land in Michigan by expanding the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Provisions that previously defended people because of their biological sex would now also apply to their sexual orientation and gender identity, meaning Catholic institutions can be sued for firing a man claiming to be a woman, for instance, despite the fact such a claim directly violates Catholic teaching.
Whitmer’s decision immediately put the work of Catholic churches and schools across the state in jeopardy. St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish outside of Lansing offers one such example. Their elementary school had been providing local families with a Catholic education for more than one hundred years, but under Whitmer’s new law, the parish can now be sued simply because it asks its employees to follow Catholic teaching. The same is true for the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Grand Rapids, which has joined St. Joseph’s in challenging this unjust law in the courts.
For these reasons, it shouldn’t shock progressives when their attempts to placate Catholics fall on deaf ears. This is a real shame because people on all sides of the aisle in Michigan and around the country should be able to make common cause with much of the work the Church is doing. Many are.
I recently visited the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit with my family. On the drive over from our downtown hotel, the consequences of poor state and local governance were evident in the neighborhood surrounding the church: vacant lots, closed schools, plenty of graffiti. But the cathedral is helping to change that. Along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the cathedral is spearheading the transformation of two previously empty lots into green space for wildlife.
Since June, the cathedral has also been working with the city of Detroit to build the Cathedral Arts Apartments, a $19.7 million development that will include fifty-three two-bedroom housing units for low-income Detroiters. The apartments will also include a workforce training facility, and soon the archdiocese is hoping to convert the cathedral’s dormant gymnasium into a community center.
What Gov. Whitmer doesn’t appreciate is that Catholicism is very much alive in Michigan. When we entered the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, we found visitors praying and a beautifully displayed collection of relics, including the bones of every apostle. This permanent installation was unveiled earlier this year and is part of the church’s “Journey with the Saints” project, which is intended to make the cathedral an apostolic center in the middle of Detroit. My wife and I prayed there for almost two hours. I expect the cathedral will receive more and more visitors from across the country and around the world, which could help revive the whole neighborhood.
If Gov. Whitmer and other progressive politicians want to appeal to millions of Catholics across the country, they will need to utter more than half-apologies after offending people of faith. Indeed, they will need to come to the same realization that I came to earlier this fall on my unexpected pilgrimage to the cathedral: that in places like Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee, the Catholic Church isn’t considered a bigoted barrier to progress, but a central pillar of the community.
Evan Myers is a writer and editor who lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.
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Image by Cgh1542000, from Wikimedia Commons, via Creative Commons. Image cropped.
