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Thoughts for
the descendants of immigrants
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
Like many of you, I spend a great deal of time in my car. Because I
rarely have passengers with me, time in the car has become prayer time.
Rather than measure distances in miles, the rosary is my odometer. Even
so, longer trips leave space for radio time: the news and talk-radio. In
that context I recently caught a radio “host” lamenting that the United
States of America is being invaded. The invaders, he proclaimed, flow
over our border with Mexico. This, in his opinion, is threatening the
American way of life and must be stopped.
Call-in comments supported the “invasion” theory of the talk show host.
It was not a surprise to me. Although myth, if not raw ignorance, frames
the topic of the undocumented in many instances, few would deny that
comprehensive immigration reform is needed. The status quo is
unacceptable. To the radio host, the solution is to seal the borders to
all undocumented people. The view of the Catholic Church is different.
It was articulated by Pope John XXIII (Pacem in Terris) who
wrote: “Every human being has the right to freedom of movement and of
residence within the confines of his own country; and, when there are
just reasons for it, the right to immigrate to other countries and take
up residence there. The fact that one is a citizen of a particular State
does not detract in any way from his membership in the human family as a
whole nor from his citizenship in the world community.”
Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo, Texas, a border diocese, recently put it
this way: “We can no longer accept a situation in which some public
officials and members of our communities scapegoat immigrants at the
same time our nation benefits from their labor. We can no longer accept
a status quo in which migrants are compelled to risk their lives in
order to support their families. We can no longer accept a reality in
which migrants fill jobs critical to Americans and U.S. employers
without receiving appropriate wages and benefits. We can no longer
tolerate the death of human beings in the desert.”
Talk such as this ignites passion. The resultant “send them back”
reaction is cause for concern in our own Local Church. Our parishes are
experiencing an influx of foreign-born people, most of them Latino.
While many Catholics in Northcentral Indiana are color-blind and open
their arms to a brother and/or sister whatever their country of origin,
that is not true in all cases. This is echoed in other Local Churches
and around the world.
On May 10, a press conference was held in Washington to announce an
initiative by the United States bishops’ Committee on Migration. It is
titled “The Justice for Immigrants Campaign.” Announced by Cardinal
Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., this multiyear campaign has four
goals:
• to educate Catholics and others of good will about the benefits of
immigration and the benefits of immigrants to our nation;
• to strengthen public opinion about the positive contributions of
immigrants;
• to advocate for just immigration laws which promote legal status and
legal pathways for migrant workers and their families; and
• to organize Catholic legal-service networks to assist immigrants to
assess the benefits of reforms.
The Catholic Church in the United States, like our nation, is diverse:
ethnically, socially and culturally. The Catholic faithful in our
country increasingly are from all parts of the world: Asia, Africa,
Latin America and Europe. Twenty-seven percent of the men who will be
ordained for the priesthood this year were not born in the United
States. As a Church, our challenge is to celebrate this diversity and
embrace it. Regardless of race, heritage or national origin, we profess,
as followers of Jesus Christ, to be one family under God.
Under our present immigration laws, families are separated, that is,
children from parents, spouses from each other, brothers from sisters.
One of the goals of the campaign is to try to promote laws which protect
the human rights of all.
During the press conference, Cardinal McCarrick acknowledged that before
immigration laws will be changed, there must be a change in attitude,
including the attitudes of many who are Catholic. To quote the cardinal:
“The U.S. bishops have grown increasingly concerned with the current
public discourse surrounding immigrants, in which newcomers are
characterized as a threat to our nation and not a benefit.
Anti-immigrant fervor on TV and radio shows, citizens attempting to
enforce immigration laws and, most disturbingly, the enactment of
restrictive immigration laws are evidence of this negative public
environment.”
Many felt the same way about our ancestors when they migrated to the
United States. Except for Native Americans, we are all immigrants or
descendants of immigrants. Immigrants, as a generalization, are hard
working, have strong values and strong families, and love God. They have
helped build our nation and will help make her stronger in the years
ahead.
“The Justice for Immigrants Campaign” will appeal to elected officials
to expeditiously enact legislation which provides a path to permanent
residence for immigrants and their families, creates a worker program
which insures the rights of all workers, reforms our family-based
immigration system to reduce waiting times for family reunification, and
restores due process protections for immigrants so that families are not
divided. This will only happen if constituents press their elected
officials to reform current immigration laws. The conviction is that
such reform will make our nation more secure by bringing immigrants out
of the shadows and actually will help law enforcement personnel
distinguish between those who help us and those who seek to harm us.
The terrorist attacks which took place back in 2001 have had a profound
impact on our nation. At the same time, certainly our nation can meet
the challenge of ensuring national security without closing our doors to
the oppressed and the down-trodden.
In his press conference, Cardinal McCarrick referred to the Gospel of
Matthew wherein Jesus instructs his followers to “welcome the stranger”
because “what you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me” (Matt.
25:35). He suggested that “The Justice for Immigrants Campaign” is a
response to that call of the Lord.
Policy makers need to seek solutions to the root causes of migration. At
the same time, our current system needs serious attention. It is not
right to separate families without hope of reunification. These
desperate people are not an enemy. Rather, they are members of our
family. |
