Bishop Barron Battles Former Beauty Queen On Catholic Perspective On Modern Israel

Weighing in on the controversy ensuing since Carrie Prejean Boller's dismissal from a panel on antisemitism, Bishop Robert Barron -- perhaps the most visible Roman Catholic bishop in the United States -- dismissed as "preposterous" the former beauty queen's claims that she was validating the Church's teachings about modern Israel and Judaism. The Catholic bishop is a member of the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty, formed by President Donald Trump at the beginning of his current administration. 

The bishop wrote, inter alia: “Mrs. Prejean Boller was not dismissed for her religious convictions but rather for her behavior at a gathering of the Commission last month: browbeating witnesses, aggressively asserting her point of view, [and] hijacking the meeting for her own political purposes.” 

Bishop Barron wrote on X: "Over the past several weeks, Carrie Prejean Boller has complained that she was removed from the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty because of her Catholic beliefs, and she has called out myself and other Catholic members of the commission for not defending her. This is absurd. Mrs. Prejean Boller was not dismissed for her religious convictions but rather for her behavior at a gathering of the Commission last month: browbeating witnesses, aggressively asserting her point of view, hijacking the meeting for her own political purposes. The Catholic position on matters of “Zionism,” to which I fully subscribe, is as follows: all forms of antisemitism are to be unequivocally condemned; the state of Israel has a right to exist; but the modern nation of Israel does not represent the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies and hence does not stand beyond criticism. If Mrs. Prejean Boller were dismissed for holding these beliefs, it is difficult to understand why I am still a member of the Commission. To paint herself as a victim of anti-Catholic prejudice or to claim that her religious liberty has been denied is simply preposterous."

Boller had written on X that her dismissal means that the Presidential Religous Liberty Commission "does not truly care about religious liberty." She asserted that, as a Catholic, she had been "removed for faithfully articulating the Church's teaching."

Other members of the Commission's advisory board include San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki, and Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin Rhoades. At its most recent meeting on March 16, the Commission discussed religious freedom in health care, where Barron warned that Catholics are being pushed out of social services and the health care field. On Twitter, he wrote he is honored to serve on the board, and asked for prayers for its mission.

On X, Catholics for Israel wrote: "Thank you for your statement, bishop. At the same time, let's remember that the magisterium has not dismissed the role of divine providence in the modern existence of the State of Israel. It is time for Catholics to engage the biblical data more seriously." The website offers Scriptural bases for Israel's claims to its land.

 The commission met most recently on March 16 to discuss religious freedom in health care. Barron said during the hearing that Catholics are increasingly being pushed out of health care and social services.

“We’ve got to come forward in the public space, articulate what is the human good. I think we’ve become more reticent, and we’ve succumbed to the pressures from the secular ideology,” he said.

Alongside Barron, other prominent Catholics on the commission include Ethics and Public Policy Center President Ryan Anderson and Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

The commissionʼs advisory board also features San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin Rhoades.

Prejean Boller tweeted: "Today is the Religious Liberty Commission hearing in Washington, DC. I was supposed to be in that room today fighting for you. But after being removed from the Commission for standing by my religious beliefs, I will not be there. During my time on the Commission, I stood up for Americans whose voices were not being heard. I stood with desperate mothers whose religious exemptions were denied and whose children could not attend school due to a vaccine mandate. I met with nurses who lost their jobs for refusing the COVID vaccine because of their religious convictions. I stood with Navy Seals who lost their pensions simply for standing by their religious beliefs."

Prejean Boller was recently photographed with Candace Owens, a convert to the Catholic faith like Prejean Boller and who has been accused of anti-semitism. Also depicted was Joe Kent, a former official of the Trump administration who recently resigned over his differences about the current war in Iran. Kent recently spoke at an event sponsored by Catholics for Catholics, a political organization. On March 19,  the advocacy group presented Prjean Boller with its Catholic Champion Award "in recognition of her courageous defense of the Faith," said John Yep, the organization's president,

The full text of Boller's earlier statement is found below: 

Your Excellency, you shared with me through text message to me that my position reflects Catholic teaching, especially that the modern state of Israel is not the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. That is the position I expressed, and yet I was removed from the Religious Liberty Commission. Respectfully, it is difficult not to conclude that this commission does not truly care about religious liberty when a Catholic can be removed for faithfully articulating the Church’s teaching.

Asking me to deny Catholic teaching in order to satisfy a political ideology is itself a violation of my religious freedom. As Pope Leo XIII warned, “To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamor is raised against truth, is the part of a coward.” Whether I serve on this Commission or not, my voice will only grow louder for those being persecuted for their faith. I believe this appointment was ordained by God, and I will not abandon my Catholic faith to keep a position on a commission that has abandoned its mission. If my religious freedom is not protected, then no one’s is. Please speak up. Please stand up for Catholics. Be brave, Bishop Barron. The world needs brave men.