AUZENNE: Religious liberty and the Corporal Works of Mercy

A painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe hangs from a guardrail as a man prays the rosary for unauthorized immigrants being transported  June 20, 2025, from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in Broadview, Ill. (OSV News photo/Octavio Jones, Reuters)For nearly a year, the Texas Office of the Attorney General, led by Ken Paxton, has been attempting to shut down Annunciation House, a Catholic charity in El Paso, that has worked with federal agencies for over 50 years to provide humanitarian aid to migrants.
In one filing, the attorney general argued that Annunciation House staff are not motivated by a Christian obligation to care for the poor but by a “more Bohemian set of ‘seven commandments,’” that include things like “visiting the imprisoned” and “caring for the sick.” 

Apparently, the attorney general, who is not Catholic, is unfamiliar with the Corporal Works of Mercy from Matthew’s Gospel and mistook them for a revised version of the Ten Commandments (“Annunciation House lawyer says Texas’ lawsuit attacks Catholic religious liberty,” OSV News, 06/18/2024; “Texas Supreme Court permits Paxton’s Annunciation House probe to proceed,” OSV News, 06/04/2025). 

El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, called such actions a “real risk” to the Church’s ability to enact the Works of Mercy: “We do have concerns when the state says that there are certain people who are hungry that we can give food to and certain people who are hungry that we may not; certain people we can give a ride to the hospital, and certain people we cannot. These kinds of issues are of concern in terms of our ability to live our life as Catholic Christians.”  

Ministry to, with, and for immigrants is a cherished part of our Catholic American heritage. Catholics from Europe, Africa, Asia, and South and Central America arrived in this country and, over generations, built vibrant Catholic schools, fraternal organizations, hospitals and charitable ministries that made it possible for them to flourish in their new homeland. 

In the face of anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic prejudice, Catholic institutions stepped in to provide safe housing, decent jobs, and medical care for those who were otherwise excluded. In addition to developing a school system from scratch, American Catholics also planted the seeds for social safety nets such as labor unions, charity hospitals and nursing homes.  

Catholic ministries are now being scrutinized in a coordinated effort to shut down their humanitarian aid to migrants; and in the case of Annunciation House, to close them altogether. Those who bring this scrutiny want us to believe that offering such assistance is unpatriotic; further, they imply that the teachings of our Catholic faith are incompatible with faithful citizenship. This argument is directly contrary to our heritage and experiences as American Catholics and as the descendants of immigrants.  

The ongoing legal battles against organizations like Annunciation House are not merely administrative disputes; they are direct challenges to the core tenets of the Catholic faith and our long-standing tradition of compassionate service. 

As Catholics, our moral imperative to care for all people, especially the vulnerable, transcends political rhetoric and discriminatory narratives. It is through an unwavering commitment to the Gospel values expressed in the Corporal Works of Mercy that we truly fulfill our mission and uphold both our faith and the foundational values of this nation, just as our immigrant ancestors did before us.  

St. Frances Cabrini, pray for us.

Amy Auzenne is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.