During a lecture given on April 5 in Michigan’s Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption, Diocese of Saginaw Bishop Robert Gruss argued that President Biden doesn’t understand his Catholic faith, using that claim to explain the disconnect between Biden’s supposed faith and decidedly non-Catholic policies. Bishop Gruss encouraged listeners to forgive the president’s “stupidity.”
Those comments on Biden came amidst a lecture Bishop Gruss was giving on unproductive anger and resentment. Citing his own troubles growing up with an alcoholic father, Gruss encourages people to let go of unproductive anger felt toward others, explaining that he did so by writing a letter to his father forgiving him for the trauma he caused.
As Fox News Digital reports, Gruss then used that story about his dad to explain why people need to let go of the anger they feel toward public figures, including the sitting president. Gruss argued that without letting go of such anger, we aren’t truly free. “If you’re harboring bad, negative, resentful feelings towards our president, you’re not free,” he said.
Continuing, he explained how anger and resentment end up controlling us, saying, “Otherwise, you’re letting him control you and your thoughts and your words and your actions. And I guarantee that if he is a problem for you, then those thoughts, words, and actions are negative — they’re gonna come out and then we commit sin. That’s what sin is.”
Gruss even argued that people should go to confession for feelings of anger, including toward President Biden, asking, “How many times have you confessed your anger towards the president?” The audience burst out in laughter, Fox News Digital reports, which Bishop Gruss evidently didn’t intend. He said, “I’m serious, I’m not kidding. If you have it, you should be confessing it. Otherwise, you’re not free.”
Gruss then explained his own feelings toward President Biden, who claims to be a Catholic but whose policies, such as support for abortion, are decidedly non-Catholic. Gruss explained that he isn’t angry, but just views the president as being stupid and ignorant of the truth teachings of the Catholic faith he claims to be a part of.
“I don’t have any anger towards the president. I feel sorry for him. I’m not angry at him, he’s just stupid,” Bishop Gruss said. He continued, after his comment provoked yet more unintended laughter from the audience, “It’s not stupidity in the derogatory way, it’s stupidity in the sense of […] he doesn’t understand the Catholic faith.”
Bishop Gruss’ speech apparently irked some, as he later apologized, saying, “I used the word ‘stupid’ in reference to President Biden, recognizing that it was poor judgment in my choice of words.” He continued, “It was not meant to be disparaging, and I apologize.” He also said, “I was speaking in the context of forgiving the president and any people in government who offend us by their words and actions — that we cannot harbor resentment toward them because in doing so, it would be sinful.”
Gruss’ comments were decidedly less severe than those of Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who said, in part, “There is a phrase that we have used in the past, a ‘cafeteria Catholic,’ you choose that which is attractive, and dismiss that which is challenging.” He added, “I would say there are things, especially in terms of life issues, there are things that he chooses to ignore, or he uses the current situation as a political pawn rather than saying, ‘Look, my church believes this, I’m a good Catholic, I would like to believe this.’ Rather than to twist and turn some dimensions of the faith as a political advantage,”
