When Wells town officials tried to defend being the only Maine town working with federal immigration officials, guess who quickly invoked “religion.”
None other than a woman using the vague title of “bishop” in a roomful of townspeople – with the help of the Portland Press Herald, which anointed her the mouthpiece for the anti-Trumpers.
“I’m here to express my strong opposition to the police department collaborating with an agency that … operates in ways that are immoral, inhumane, unconstitutional, illegal, and just plain sloppy and cruel,” Rosemary Ananis lectured town councilors earlier this week. “My faith tells me that the alien is also my neighbor.”
“Bishop” Ananis – the title in first reference given her by the Portland Press Herald – never identified that “alien.”
Ananis was among the self-ordained Trump policy critics who were there to warn that the Wells Police Department – the only one in Maine working with ICE – “could undermine the town’s reputation as a friendly, welcoming community and possibly expose it to legal liability,” according to the ever-reliable Democrat Portland Press Herald.
The paper was glad to help the cause, headlining its piece “The Only Maine Police Agency Partnering With ICE Faces Resident Pushback,” despite the fact there was an equal showing of residents who support the Wells police working with federal officials as those who don’t.
Wells recently became the first town in Maine to start working with federal immigration enforcement authorities to help stem the Biden no-borders-are-good-borders policy that rained illegals on the United States before Trump began cracking down.
In fact, the Portland-based paper led off its story Wednesday about opposition to the police dragnet of illegals by leading its coverage with the scolding by Ananis.
“How convenient,” as Saturday Night Live’s Church Lady would say.
The paper placed lower in its story a statement read by a woman representing 50 petitioners supporting the police department.
Ananis on her LinkedIn profile describes herself as “pastor” at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Wells.
But the church’s internet link says it is “permanently closed,” and there has been no posting on its inactive Facebook page since August.
When it opened in 2007, the organization called itself “independent American Catholic Church of New England with “progressive social teaching, Catholic worship, Christian outlook.”
Elsewhere on her LinkedIn, Ananis says she studied “clinical social work” at the Episcopal Divinity School, receiving a “doctor of ministry” after getting a master’s at Bangor Theological Seminary.
Her title as “bishop” – never explained by the Portland Press Herald – apparently derives from her role at a place calling itself “TOCCUSA.”
The organization’s website proudly proclaims itself as “a church of Radical Hospitality.”
While some may view the “Traditional Order of the Catholic University Students Association” as a traditionalist organization promoting Catholic values, the mainline church does not recognize it as an official body or approve of its activities, including its teachings and practices.
Ananis also has a side hustle as a social worker. LinkedIn says she is the owner of of a counseling business.
