Dignity and Representation

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has kept the tension between immigration reform and human dignity at the top of their docket during Trump’s second term. Not only have their statements ruffled feathers among non-Catholics, but many faithful Catholics also find themselves troubled by the public stances of the USCCB. Most recently, the USCCB found itself at the center of another public controversy after releasing a public statement about proposed changes to the U.S. census.

For those who haven’t heard the story, the U.S. Census Bureau recently began considering apportioning seats for the House of Representatives based only on the number of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. This marks a change from the apportionment based on the “whole number of persons” living in the state at the date of census. On October 22, the USCCB, through its General Counsel William Quinn, wrote that these changes “conflict with our fundamental belief in the equal dignity of every person, the obligations of a just society, and legal precedent.” They even went so far as to compare it to the Three-fifths Compromise which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person with regard to electoral apportionment. This bold, rather incredible statement immediately caught the attention of Catholics all over the country.

A number of Catholic personalities in media and academia spoke out to offer criticism of the statement. CatholicVote CEO and president Kelsey Reinhardt called it “faulty logic” while University of Dallas historian Susan Hanssen considered the reference to the Three-fifths Compromise “an egregious mis-reading of American History.” Mike Gonzalez, a Catholic and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, even went so far as to call the comment “absurd on its face.” These and many others pushed back publicly on the USCCB’s statements which, to them, appeared to give the definition of dignity a rather wide interpretation.

To better understand this controversy, we need a good working definition of the word “dignity.” The Cambridge Dictionary defines dignity as “the quality of a person that makes him or her deserving of respect, sometimes shown in behavior or appearance.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church builds on this in paragraph 1700 when it states “The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God.” We can combine these two statements to show that the Church teaches the fact God created us in his own likeness and image makes us deserving of respect. Since God created every human person in his own likeness and image, every person would deserve at least the same amount of respect. Thus, when we speak of human dignity, we refer to the basic level of respect owed to every human person.

We should note that this does not mean that every person deserves the same level of respect as any other person at any given time. If an artist creates a masterpiece, we respect his artistic talent more than less accomplished artists. If a leader helps his people through a difficult time, they build monuments to honor him. A person who does neither of these things can make no claim to the same level of respect the artist or leader receives. Thus, choosing not to build a statue in my honor does not disrespect me. It also doesn’t say anything about my inherent dignity. And herein lies the “faulty logic” of the Bishops’ public comments: political representation does not measure a person’s dignity.

The U.S. Census Bureau made no claims that the dignity of personhood belongs only to U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. They only claimed that the presence of foreign persons should not affect the number of seats a state receives in the House of Representatives. This intuitively makes sense. By flooding their own cities with foreigners, illegal or otherwise, a state can grow its own power. Why should states that flagrantly disregard immigration or abuse work visas receive a reward in the form of additional political power? The rule change clearly aims at closing the loophole that the prior language affords. Just because some people have political representation in a country does not mean that those without have any less dignity as human persons. After all, surely the bishops would not say that God dehumanized the Israelites when he set a king over them instead of organizing the Twelve tribes into a constitutional republic.

When we conflate dignity with other things, the word starts to lose its meaning. If everything is a matter of dignity, then nothing is a matter of dignity. This becomes even more apparent on issues which obviously have nothing to do with dignity at all. Comparing the census rule change to the Three-fifths Compromise doesn’t elevate the moral imperative of the former; it just takes away from the seriousness of the latter. We clearly see this all over recent American history. The more leftist politicians refer to Republicans as “Nazis” for not wanting to mutilate young children, the more the average person’s view on fascism softens. Likewise, the more U.S. bishops insist that any sort of harder stance on immigration constitutes an attack on human dignity, the less likely the average person will take seriously their claims on any matter of dignity.

This very fact makes public statements like the one put out by the USCCB scandalous. If the bishops spend their moral capital in a prodigal manner, they will seriously harm the evangelical mission of the Church in America. The Left will continue to hate the Church for what it actually teaches while the Right will continue to dismiss it as just another fallen institution. If the Church stands boldly and unwaveringly for the truth, it has a much greater chance of reaching those who might engage with it on either side of the political divide. The Left will see that the Church really does care for the poor and needy while the Right will see that the Church really does bring stability to society.

So then, what should we average Catholics do when the USCCB’s public stance appears “absurd on its face?” First, we should remember that God ordains bishops, not us. He has made us for such times as these and he has elected them for these same times. We refer to the Church as God’s Kingdom, not His Democracy. We still owe them charity and obedience. Second, we should pray for our leaders, especially when they do things we dislike. We should do this while keeping in mind that God will save the Church, not us. He may call us to participate in that salvation, but His will always triumphs over ours. Finally, we should participate more in the Church in the ways God gives us to do so. We can volunteer at our parish, look for ways to build up Catholic community, and give our children to become priests and religious. In this way, we can build up a stronger community of faith and raise up, with God’s help, leaders who will speak out for truth when we need them to.

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