For the second time this week, Saginaw Diocese Bishop Robert Gruss is finding himself in hot water for defending the Catholic faith.

The latest kerfuffle involving Gruss is the revelation he called President Joe Biden “stupid” in a video reposted by the National Catholic Reporter on Thursday, April 18. The NCR story followed on the heels of a letter written by Gruss in which he announced the resignation of a parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker in Beal City. In that incident, the priest had come under fire for adhering to basic Catholic tenets rather than bowing to the more liberal interpretations of the Church’s teachings by some in the local community.

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In that letter, Gruss said the “division, lack of charity and the wounds caused by the division in the St. Joseph the Worker Parish community has brought deep sadness to the Lord Jesus, especially when we are living in the light of the Resurrection we celebrated on Easter Sunday.”

He continued: “Jesus weeps when he sees division and disunity in the body of Christ, his Church. It is not his desire nor his will.”

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Gruss’ comments angered advocates for removing the priest because they said it “gaslighted the community.”

 

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Gruss made his April 5 remarks to a small audience in a recorded hour-long talk on April 5. The purpose of the talk was to speak on “Forgiveness as the Heart of Christianity.” The title of the talk, which appears on YouTube, is “People are not the enemy, hatred and the devil are the enemy.”

By letting go of anger, Gruss said, people free themselves through forgiveness. He advised his audience to find forgiveness for Biden for his ignorance of the Roman Catholic faith.

Gruss’ comments on Biden were brief, comprising only a few minutes of his nearly one-hour speech.

After calling Biden stupid for “not understanding the Catholic faith,” Gruss added: “It’s not stupidity in a derogatory way. It’s stupidity in the sense of he doesn’t know until he does things.”

He added: “So I’m not angry at him, I feel sorry for him, that’s different,” Gruss said. “I’m sad because he’s not living the life Jesus wants for him.”

Gruss is not the only member of the Catholic clergy to take issue with Biden, who calls himself a faithful Catholic despite supporting several issues antithetical to the Church’s catechesis and doctrines, including abortion, protected class legislation for LGBTQ+ communities, and gender transitioning of minors.

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