Long Island Catholics mixed over U.S. cardinals' concern for country's moral compass

A warning by three U.S. Catholic cardinals Monday that the country's aggressive actions at home and abroad are threatening its status as a global moral compass earned praise and prayer from some among the church's Long Island flock who spoke with Newsday, and scorn, or doubts the clerics' words will make a difference, from others.

In rare joint statement, Cardinals Blasé Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Joseph Tobin of Newark said: "In 2026, the United States has entered into the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War. The events in Venezuela, Ukraine and Greenland have raised basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace."

The cardinals' statement went on to say the "country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination."

Silent on Trump

The cardinals, who did not mention President Donald Trump by name, are prominent figures in the progressive wing of the U.S. Catholic Church. Their statement was partly inspired, they said, by a major foreign policy address Pope Leo XIV gave on Jan. 9 to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.

Catholics on Long Island were far from reaching a consensus on the cardinals' warning.

Jim Hickey, a member of St. Brigid’s parish in Westbury, took its meaning to be a positive sign

"Perhaps the tide is turning now that the three highest-ranking Roman Catholic clerics in the U.S. are speaking out about the unrestrained cruelty from the Trump administration," Hickey told Newsday on Monday. "I often think about the silence from our Catholic clergy, who are entrusted with moral leadership, and wonder what, or whom, they fear most. Now, the cardinals offer us hope that may guide a church seeking to live its mission."

Frank Russo, a Catholic from Port Washington, said that while he had some doubts about Trump’s threats to invade Greenland, he disagreed with their stance on Venezuela. Earlier this month, Venzuelan President Nicolás Maduro was seized by American special forces and brought to New York with his wife, Cilia Flores, to face a range of charges, including drug smuggling and conspiracy.

'A serious problem'

"We have indeed had a serious problem with regard to the large number of illegal immigrants the U.S. has had," Russo told Newsday, "and Venezuela has indeed been a problem."

Pope Leo's nearly 45-minute speech, delivered mostly in English, was seen as his most substantial critique of U.S. foreign policy. The first American-born pope condemned "a diplomacy based on force" and a "zeal for war," though he did not mention Trump by name.

The backdrop to the speech was the U.S. military operation removing Maduro, Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, and Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.

The cardinals wrote that "we renounce war as an instrument for narrow national interests and proclaim that military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy."

They said Leo had noted "the need for international aid to safeguard the most central elements of human dignity, which are under assault because of the movement by wealthy nations to reduce or eliminate their contributions to humanitarian foreign assistance programs."

Trump last year made major cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has said the agency has a liberal agenda and is beset by waste and fraud. Trump has said capturing Maduro was a legal action to enforce an arrest warrant on drug trafficking and weapons charges, and that the United States needs control of Greenland for national security reasons.

Praying for peace

Asked to comment, Bishop John Barres, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said in a statement: "The faithful, religious, and clergy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre join Pope Leo XIV and the Universal Church in praying for lasting peace throughout the world."

Margaret Melkonian, a former member of the diocese’s Peace and Justice Commission from Uniondale, said, "I think that we have lost our moral compass in foreign policy as they [the cardinals] suggest. It's really a global mess, in a way, in terms of other world leaders as well."

"It's really disturbing that we're moving away from peace and moving closer to war," she said.

The cardinals' release of the statement Monday left Ed Casey, a parishioner at Our Lady of Victory in Floral Park "dismayed."

"On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a holiday honoring a man who fought for the dignity of all human life, born and unborn — I am dismayed by the timing of this statement from Cardinals Cupich, McElroy, and Tobin, issued mere days before the March for Life in Washington, D.C., " Casey wrote in an email to Newsday. "As millions prepare to march against the absolute greatest moral evil of our age — the industrialized slaughter of the unborn — these princes of the Church and successors of the apostles of Jesus Christ choose to divert attention to selective critiques of U.S. foreign policy rather then the Gospel's unflinching call to defend life at every stage and clear doctrinal orthodoxy."