LARGO, Maryland (LifeSiteNews) — Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell blasphemously claimed “God is DEI” (diversity, equity, and inclusion) during a homily for the archdiocese’s annual Black History Month Mass at St. Joseph Church last weekend.
During his homily for the February 21 Mass, Bishop Campbell reflected briefly about how the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is sung shortly before the distribution of the Holy Eucharist and reflected on the word “Dei” (Meaning God), then falsely compared the term to DEI, saying “God is DEI,” per the Catholic Standard, the archdiocese’s official newspaper. The bishop made similar remarks during the archdiocese’s 2025 Mass commemorating Black History Month and in a reflection briefly published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
“DEI means God is diversity, He is equity, and He is inclusion,” Campbell said during his homily.
“DEI,” which typically includes affirmation and “representation” of homosexuality and transgenderism, is fundamentally at odds with Church teaching. DEI’s emphasis on identity-based divisions and grievances also leads to conflict with traditional Catholic morality.
Indeed, “DEI,” which shares the same letters as “Dei,” appears to indicate that DEI is a “woke” perversion of Catholicism and Christianity, rather than meaning “God is DEI,” as the bishop suggests.
Campbell made similar false remarks during his homily for last year’s Mass in honor of Black History Month, in which he denounced the Trump administration for its efforts to crack down on DEI practices.
“The current presidential administration, led by Donald J. Trump, wants to erase diversity, equity, and inclusion from the American conscience,” the bishop said. “But think about the acronym DEI – during this Mass, we will pray the Agnus Dei, meaning ‘Lamb of God.’”
Campbell went on to claim that equity, the “E” in DEI, stands for “the truth of the justice of God applied to everyone, regardless of where people are from, with love.”
While it’s true that God applies justice to everyone regardless of where they are from, the bishop notably omits any mention of how He applies justice based on one’s sins. Of course, Campbell also neglects to mention how the promotion of “equity” as prescribed by DEI also promotes sinful lifestyles such as homosexual “marriage” or living as a so-called “transgender.”
The bishop also claimed that inclusion, the “I” in DEI, is “living the law of the Lord as one. That law is to love God by the way we love one another.”
While the faithful are called to love one another, and indeed to live as “one,” they are called to live as “one Church,” not as one people of various faiths, as the bishop appeared to imply and as DEI would call for.
In September 2025, Campbell wrote a reflection on why “DEI means God” that was briefly published on the USCCB’s website, which made similar jabs at the Trump administration and several blasphemies about God “being DEI” before being removed. Following its removal, a USCCB spokesperson claimed it had been published by mistake.
In recent years, several purportedly Catholic churches and institutions have promoted DEI despite its contradictions with Church teaching.
In October 2025, Campus Reform reported that two Benedictine colleges, Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict, issued a joint job posting seeking a visiting assistant professor in political science that specifically listed “Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion” as a required qualification.
READ: Catholic colleges in Minnesota quietly scrub DEI from job posting after public backlash
The schools also had also adopted “ambitious goals to embed Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice principles into the core fabric of the institutions” in their joint DEIJ Strategic Plan.
After intense backlash, the posting and strategic plan were deleted.
The University of Notre Dame, one of the most prominent Catholic universities in the country that has repeatedly contradicted its Catholic mission, also had a DEI Center, which recently changed its name to the Sister Thea Bowman Center after facing investigations from the Trump administration and the Indiana Attorney General’s office for its DEI initiatives.
READ: Notre Dame changes the name of its DEI office but continues promoting LGBT, woke ideology
Despite the rebrand, the Sister Bowman Center continues to host a pro-LGBT “Gender Relations Center” in addition to other DEI programs.
