Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, on March 20 criticized what he described as \u201cabsurd\u201d claims from Carrie Prejean Boller that she was booted from the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty because of her Catholic beliefs. <\/p>\n
Boller, an outspoken Catholic and a former Miss California USA contestant, was removed from the commission in February<\/a> after repeatedly criticizing \u201cZionism\u201d at a commission hearing on Feb. 9. <\/p>\n The hearing focused on combatting antisemitism in the U.S., though Boller during the hearing regularly brought up the subject of Zionism, the movement supporting Jewish self\u2011determination in a homeland in Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Catholic, and Catholics do not embrace Zionism, just so you know,\u201d Boller said at one point. Elsewhere she asked witnesses if they were willing to \u201ccondemn what Israel has done in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n In announcing Boller\u2019s removal, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick \u2014 the chairman of the commission \u2014 argued that \u201cno member of the commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is clearly, without question, what happened … in our hearing on antisemitism in America,\u201d he said at the time. <\/p>\n Boller has spoken out publicly about the controversy in the weeks since her removal, alleging that she was booted from the commission because of her Catholic faith. In a March 20 post on X<\/a>, she suggested that the religious liberty commission \u201cdoes not truly care about religious liberty\u201d and suggested that she was removed \u201cfor faithfully articulating the Church\u2019s teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n In that post she suggested that Barron \u2014 who himself serves on the commission \u2014 was not sufficiently defending the Catholic faith by refusing to speak up about the alleged discrimination. <\/p>\n \u201cIf my religious freedom is not protected, then no one\u2019s is,\u201d she wrote to Barron. \u201cPlease speak up. Please stand up for Catholics.\u201d<\/p>\n\u2018Simply preposterous\u2019 discrimination claims<\/h2>\n