On October 22, Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee joined 11 other bishops on a visit to the White House, which the White House’s Faith Office organized. Grob said that he and his fellow bishops received an invitation to go to Washington to talk about “matters of importance to the Church and our people, including immigration enforcement, religious worker visas, and human dignity.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Dialogue between the church and an administration that these bishops have intensely criticized, particularly over its immigration enforcement policies and practices.

Grob said the Heritage Foundation helped liaise this meeting during its planning.

“We were told the meeting was to be a private discussion, that several Catholic members of the cabinet might make an appearance, and that there could be an opportunity to pray privately with the president,” he claimed without making it clear who told him that.

According to Grob, the bishops met with administration officials for about 90 minutes, and then they went to the Oval Office, where they met in person with President Donald Trump. He presented them with “commemorative tokens,” and as is the case with the vast majority of Oval Office meetings, photographers positioned the group with Trump behind the Resolute Desk for an obvious photo op. A dead giveaway for all participants would have been the still photographer and the videographer in the room capturing all of it with their cameras.

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A photographer captured the group, clearly with their knowledge, praying over the president. We’ve seen this sort of photo time and again when Trump hosts clerics in the Oval Office. It’s nothing new, not controversial, and hardly a surprise when he does it.

But given the way in which the left weaponizes everything and how it often seeks to coerce anyone who gets close to Trump into distancing themselves from him, that happened here. Once the White House released the photos from the visit, the left went about doing its dirty work of pressuring those in attendance to capitulate to their pressure.

On Sunday, October 25, Grob issued a “public apology” for participating in the event. The weak-in-the-knees bishop who could have doubled down and claimed that, regardless of the context, he was doing the Lord’s work, instead groveled to those who hate Trump more than they love God.

Over the past several days, I have received many questions and comments about the October 22 meeting I and 11 other bishops attended at the White House, which was soon thereafter publicized by the administration without the consent of the participants. Please know that my intention was never to cause confusion, anger, or disappointment among the people entrusted to my care. My hope here is to provide some measure of context for my decision to participate, Grob’s statement reads.

He went on to make it clear that he was not endorsing the president, his policies, or the Republican Party, which is very important when you cave to the forces that are beholden to the president’s opponents, their policies, and the Democrat Party.

Grob claimed that the meeting was “the second of two such gatherings arranged by the Heritage Foundation,” but the Heritage Foundation says it was not the organizer of the event, though it was involved. In Grob’s statement, he said that he was not invited to the first event, which he said happened in June.

Grob said, “We were told the meeting was to be a private discussion, that several Catholic members of the cabinet might make an appearance, and that there could be an opportunity to pray privately with the president.”

After some more explaining, Grob took groveling to the left to a new low, saying, “We came in good faith to try to work for the betterment of our fellow human beings, to ease their suffering, to build up the common good, and to pray with a president, not to pose for a political photo opportunity to benefit the few. We should never have been put in that position by the White House. I did not go without reservations. I wish I had heeded them. Please know that I have heard these concerns, understand how I caused them, and I apologize for any damage my actions have done.”

So what if the bishops learned that they’d get a private meeting at the White House? Are they that naïve to think that there wouldn’t be a certain amount of public relations tied to the event? The short answer is, “No way.” These bishops have been around the block a few times, and they are often as guilty as anyone of engaging in publicity stunts. While Grob himself was not a part of this, do you remember this PR stunt that was very political from last November?

In all my years in public relations, I’ve had occasion to work not on behalf of the church, but with it. In every case, the people I dealt with were very media savvy and attuned to how the church uses the media. And yes, I said “uses.”

Now, Grob and others who were involved in the meeting are trying to reframe it as a political event they were duped into attending. While more than a few gullible Catholics will eat this up, I have my doubts about the sincerity of the claim.

When you agree to meet with political people, your meeting is inherently political. There is no denying this. When you travel to the White House and get to meet with the president of the United States, unless you work for the intelligence community, it is extremely likely that the event will be publicized. Those are the assumed ground rules that apply to everyone.

At the same time, why wouldn’t the Catholic bishops not want their meeting with a sitting president to be publicized?

Denver Archbishop James Golka, who laid hands on Trump as the group prayed together in that meeting, actually said the commonsense thing: “I thought that this is what Catholics do. We pray for people. No matter whether we agree or disagree on anything, we always pray for our country and leaders.”

Based on Grob’s interpretation of events here, he may want to remember a particular New Testament passage that churches often read on Sundays as the day’s Gospel.

Matthew 9:10-13 reads: “While Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and other outcasts came and joined Jesus and his disciples at the table. Some Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with such people?’ Jesus heard them and answered, ‘People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick.’”

The point is, even if you think the people you’re ministering to are wrong, that shouldn’t prohibit you from trying to minister to them.

Grob’s complaint is that he feels like someone tricked him into using him for political purposes. I suspect it’s something else. I suspect that there are people in Grob’s sphere who hate Trump; they came down on Grob heavy and hard, and he caved.

“I soon began receiving messages of serious concern over the possibility that I had inadvertently participated in a political event less than two weeks before a national election,” Grob said. “I also heard from some who felt wounded because of the ways they or their family had been harmed by the president’s policies.”

I’m not buying that. No one felt “wounded” over a routine White House photo op.

If Grob had an issue with the president’s policies, he was in the White House on October 22. He had his chance to “speak truth to power” on that day in ways very few Americans ever have the chance. If he really cares about those people he claims the president’s policies “harmed,” he was in a unique position to say something about it. And for that, he should remind his detractors of this, and he should be grateful for the opportunity.

Instead, what we get is a groveling, appeasing, leftist in bishop’s clothing.

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According to EWTN News, which reached out to the Trump administration for comment, spokeswoman Taylor Rogers replied: “There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it: he stopped the weaponization of the federal government against Christians, proudly defended and expanded our religious rights, pardoned pro-life activists, stopped the chemical mutilation of our nation’s children, and protected parents’ rights.”