Catholic News Agency reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents deported Francisco Paredes, a maintenance worker at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Hopkins, Minnesota, on December 4, 2025, subsequently surveilling the church during Epiphany Mass. The article describes parishioners’ fear following this incident and the January 7, 2025 fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renee Good by ICE agents nearby. “Father” Paul Haverstock lamented decreased Spanish Mass attendance and considered issuing dispensations, while Hopkins Mayor Patrick Hanlon criticized ICE’s tactics. This narrative exemplifies the neo-church’s surrender to secular power while feigning resistance.
Ecclesial Cowardice in the Face of Caesar’s Tyranny
The conciliar sect’s leadership demonstrates theological bankruptcy by framing this assault as merely a “constitutional rights” issue rather than recognizing the regnum Christi (kingdom of Christ) being violated. Haverstock’s statement that “It felt like we were not living in the United States of America but in some third world, violent place” reveals a naturalistic worldview utterly foreign to Catholic ecclesiology. The true Church teaches that ALL nations exist under Christ’s dominion, as Pius XI declared: “He must reign in our minds…wills…hearts…bodies” (Quas Primas, 33). By reducing the conflict to earthly political terms, these neo-clerics deny the Kingship of Christ over civil authorities.
“They treat people like an animal…All the people I met in the prison, they are hardworking people.” (Paredes)
While deploring Paredes’ treatment, the article omits the Church’s immutable teaching on immigration: The state possesses the ius naturale (natural right) to control borders (Syllabus of Errors, Pius IX, 1864). Leo XIII affirmed that governments may “prevent foreigners from immigrating whenever their immigration endangers public order” (Rerum Novarum, 37). The neo-church’s selective outrage about deportation while ignoring the legitimate exercise of state authority constitutes implicit endorsement of anarchic border policies condemned by true popes.
Sacramental Sabotage Through Fearmongering
Haverstock’s consideration of Sunday Mass dispensations due to parishioner fear exposes the conciliar sect’s abandonment of sacramental theology. The Council of Trent (Session VII, Canon VI) anathematizes anyone claiming fear excuses Mass attendance, teaching that “If anyone says that Masses…are not to be offered for the living and the dead…let him be anathema.” True shepherds would fortify frightened souls with the Sacraments, not legitimize their absence. This pastoral cowardice flows directly from Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae, which elevated false “religious freedom” above the munus sanctificandi (sanctifying office).
The article’s repeated references to “families being separated” intentionally obscures Paredes’ criminal record (DUI conviction), following the neo-church pattern of misrepresenting facts to advance social agendas. Pius XII condemned such manipulation: “To omit facts knowingly…would be to fail in one’s duty” (Miranda Prorsus, 1957).
Silence on the True Remedy: Christ’s Social Kingship
Nowhere does “Archbishop” Bernard Hebda invoke the only solution to societal chaos – the Social Reign of Christ the King. Pius XI taught that “When once men recognize…that Christ has authority…unheard-of benefits…would flow upon human society” (Quas Primas, 19). Instead, the conciliar sect promotes worldly “immigration reform” while ignoring the doctrinal apostasy enabling state persecution. The article’s focus on “works of mercy” absent doctrinal fidelity epitomizes the neo-church’s naturalism, forgetting that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).
This manufactured crisis reveals the conciliar sect’s complicity in its own persecution. By abandoning the societas perfecta (perfect society) ecclesiology defined in Immortale Dei (Leo XIII), neo-clerics invited state intrusion they now theatrically lament. Until the Church returns to integral Catholic doctrine – rejecting both state tyranny and anarchic immigration policies – such sacrileges will multiply, proving Christ’s words: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation” (Luke 11:17).
Source:
ICE deported Minnesota church employee, surveilled parish during Mass, mayor says (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 09.01.2026