(LifeSiteNews) — President Donald Trump has asked Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Bishop Kevin Rhoades to join an advisory board for his Religious Liberty Commission.
In a May 16 statement, the White House announced the names of members of three advisory boards: one for religious leaders, one for legal experts, and one for lay leaders. Bishop Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, and Bishop Kevin Rhoades of of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, join Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone as Catholic prelates on the first board. Paprocki spearheaded the national “Fortnight for Freedom” campaign in 2012 to defend religious liberty. Rhoades currently chairs the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Religious Liberty.
Father Thomas Ferguson, a pastor in Alexandria, Virginia, and the author of Catholic and American: The Political Theology of John Courtney Murray, is the fourth Catholic member of the advisory board of religious leaders. A Greek Orthodox archbishop, two Protestant pastors, and four Jewish rabbis have also been designated to this group.
Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was designated a lay leader alongside Ryan Tucker, senior council for Alliance Defending Freedom and others. Kristen Waggonner, CEO, president, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, is on the advisory board of legal experts.
RELATED: President Trump names Archbishop Cordileone to Religious Liberty Commission advisory board
On May 1st, the President signed an executive order (EO) establishing the Religious Liberty Commission, designating Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as chair and Dr. Ben Carson as vice chair, as well as 11 other commission members.
According to the EO, the purpose of the Commission is to “advise the White House Faith Office and the Domestic Policy Council on religious liberty policies of the United States,” for example by “recommending steps to secure domestic religious liberty.”
Catholic members of the commission include the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Bishop Robert Barron, founder of the popular Word on Fire media organization, and Ryan T. Anderson, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Institute.
