President Obama gave a speech on immigration on May 10 in front of the still-in-progress border fence in El Paso. Without proposing a specific policy plan, he delivered what sounded a lot like a campaign speech, in which he dismissed critics with a broad brush — as unrealistic and mean-spirited, insatiably pining for moats with crocodiles to keep those they consider undesirable out of the country.

And then the Catholic bishops’ conference sent out an e-mail sounding as if they had just endorsed his position, crocodiles and all.

Political conservatives have just about as much to learn from Catholic social teaching as political liberals. And — perhaps contrary to erroneous conventional wisdom that sees it largely as a left-wing thing — no political party owns it. A recent exchange involving House Budget Committee chairman and Wisconsin Catholic Paul Ryan over the federal budget made that refreshingly clear.

But the “BISHOPS’ MIGRATION CHAIRMAN URGES PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS TO ACT ON COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM” press release I received from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was not as clarifying. And its disservice was underscored by the name attached to it: Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration.

The e-mail signed by the new archbishop of Los Angeles was substantively a nudge to Washington policymakers to move on immigration reform in a way that respects the dignity of the human person while securing U.S. borders. The content, in short, wasn’t news-breaking. That a bishop, never mind the bishop who chairs a migration committee, would urge that “Congress and the President have a responsibility to come together to enact reform that corrects this humanitarian problem, respects the dignity and hard work of our immigrant brothers and sisters, and reflects America’s proud history as a hospitable society and a welcoming culture” is nothing unexpected. But given the refreshing way the archbishop has been speaking on the issue since moving to Los Angeles, the timing was a prudentially poor move from the committee — dramatically so when you consider the press release may have seen more inboxes and caught a glance from more eyeballs than his carefully crafted speeches tend to.

Since he became archbishop of Los Angeles, Archbishop Gomez’s tone on immigration policy has been noticeably different from that of his predecessor, Roger Cardinal Mahony. There are many examples, but one of the latest might be among his most memorable. When Arizona passed its controversial immigration law last spring, Cardinal Mahony infamously wrote that it was “the country’s most retrogressive, mean-spirited and useless anti-immigrant law,” even going so far as to compare it to “German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques.”

Archbishop Gomez, on the other hand, gave a speech at a conference on immigration policy at the Catholic University of America in March in which he underscored “the obvious” up front: “I am not a politician or a diplomat or an expert in the global economy. I am a Catholic archbishop. That means I am a priest and a pastor of souls. In everything, my concern is to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to defend and promote the dignity of the human person who is made in the image of God.”#more#

He went on to say that “in the Catholic Church and in the eyes of God, no one is a stranger or an alien. Practically speaking also, U.S.-Mexican immigration for us is a religious and family issue. Because the vast majority of the immigrants we are talking about are Catholics, they are our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.”

He said: “It is true that many immigrants are in our country illegally. That bothers me. I don’t like it when our rule of law is flouted. And I support just and appropriate punishments. But right now, we are imposing penalties that leave wives without husbands, children without parents. We are deporting fathers and leaving single mothers to raise children on little to no income.”

“We are a better people than that,” the archbishop continued. “We have always been a nation of justice and law. But we have also been a nation of mercy and forgiveness. We can find a better way. I think it begins with the Catholic perspective. It begins in seeing immigrants as human beings. As mothers and fathers. As children of God.”

Again, the archbishop underscored: “I am not a politician, but a pastor of souls. As a pastor, I am deeply concerned about the costs of this impasse in the lives of millions of men, women, and children.” But, he said, “I understand the political frustration over this issue. There has been a failure of leadership — and this failure of leadership cuts across party lines. The reasons for the stalemate on this issue are understandable — from a political standpoint. But from a moral standpoint, the results are intolerable and inexcusable.”

And he continued voicing his concern: “Not just the souls of the 12 million without papers who are living at the margins of our society. I am worried about their physical, moral, and spiritual health. When you are a stranger in a strange land — and unwanted — you are easy prey for exploitation. But more than that. When you are a stranger who is despised, it gets harder every day to hold onto your cultural identity, your moral compass, your religion, your dignity. You start to believe what people say about you — that you are no good.”

When he himself talks about immigration, he is consistent in his welcoming tone — welcoming to legal immigrants, welcoming to and encouraging of serious conversation about what to do about illegal immigration, and not dismissive of supporters of attempts like those in Arizona to deal with border-control problems. His message to the CUA conference was his message in February to a Legatus gathering: “Immigration tests our commitment as disciples and our faithfulness to the Gospel and mission of his Church.”

Whatever your opinion of the “comprehensive immigration-reform proposals” that have been floated, what the new archbishop of Los Angeles has been saying is a far cry from moats and crocodile rhetorical drivebys. Nazi slanders, too. That is where our conversation needs to be if we are serious students of Catholic social thought in our civic lives.

Would that the staff that drafts press releases at the bishops’ conference came to realize that. The president’s campaign speech was not worthy of a response, never mind something that could easily be characterized as an “Amen!” We all need to be challenged, we all need to rise to the moral occasion as we struggle with issues of justice and security. For far too long, some offices of the bishops’ conference have seemed to act as arms of the Democratic party. The episcopal body shouldn’t become a conservative think tank either. But it should take Catholic social teaching and faithful moral players on the political stage more seriously than a probably ill-advised, ill-timed, easily misinterpreted, easily misused press release does.

Tone keeps conservatives from working with liberals and vice versa. They keep conservatives from working with conservatives — just ask former president George W. Bush on just this issue. It is clear that Los Angeles’s new archbishop knows tone matters. It would be a blessing if the appreciation were contagious.

The bishops’ conference needn’t alienate on issues of prudential policymaking judgment. It can’t afford to. Non-partisan moral guidance can be a beacon for discerning lawmakers — when it’s focused on Christ and not power politics. Here, the new archbishop of Los Angeles appears to lead.