The U.S. bishops’ conference told The Pillar Friday that a controversial essay on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies was mistakenly published, and does not represent an official position of the USCCB.
The essay, entitled “DEI means God,” was published this month on the website of the U.S. bishops’ conference, and written by Washington, DC, auxiliary bishop Roy Campbell.
According to conference spokesperson Chieko Noguchi, the essay “is a draft of a personal reflection from Bishop Campbell that is yet to be discussed and given to a definitive publication plan.”
“It was mistakenly posted to the website, and has been taken down,” Noguchi told The Pillar Friday evening.
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Campbell, 77, is chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee of African American Affairs, which is a part of the conference’s Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church.
The bishop’s essay lamented that presidential administration of Donald Trump “wants to erase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from the American conscience,” and is “working to separate us from one another, not just migrants, but many, especially people of color, who have been denied for far too long, equal opportunities in education, social recognition, and economic growth, truly denying the DIGNITY OF EVERY HUMAN BEING!”
Campbell pointed out the initials for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs form the letters DEI, which make “dei,” the Latin word for God.
In that sense, the bishop wrote, “God is Diversity,” “God is Equity,” and “God is Inclusion.”
Citing scriptural verses to support his interpretation, Campbell asserted that “diversity reaches out to all people, regardless of where one is from or their station in life;” “equity is the truth of the justice of God applied to everyone, regardless of where people are from, with love;” and that “inclusion is living the law of the Lord as one. That law is to love God by the way we love one another.”
In light of those reflections, the bishop wrote, the notion of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” means “to me … that God is always working among us and through us for the eternal life of each of us.”
“This is what the Subcommittee for African American Affairs of the Committee on Cultural Diversity is working toward, for Black Americans, in fact, for all Americans,” the bishop added.
Campbell’s essay was first noted by the Catholic Culture website Sept. 12, and was seemingly removed from the USCCB website on the same day, though while links were removed from the conference website, some conference URLs to download the essay were still active Saturday afternoon, with conference staffers seemingly working to remove them.
The USCCB has not made previous or official statements on DEI policies or initiatives, which have become controversial in the U.S. in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd murder and an ensuing period of racial tension in the country.
Advocates say DEI initiatives aim to strengthen workplaces and campuses by diversifying communities and allowing previously unheard perspectives better footing and opportunity, while critics say such programs mandate the adoption of progressive ideologies at the cost of level playing fields.
Some Catholic intellectuals and leaders have proposedalternatives to DEI, which they say better draw from Christian anthropology and Catholic social teaching.
In February, Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to discontinue diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, and programs, and to ensure that federal contractors did not use DEI programs in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
In April, the administration said it would cut federal aid to schools and colleges with DEI programs, though that announcement remains tied up in litigation.
The Archdiocese of Washington, where Campbell is an auxiliary bishop, has not yet responded to a request for comment from The Pillar.