Bishops across US renew support for migrants over Christmas
The Archbishop of Miami preached at a Mass on Christmas Day at the immigration detention facility known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, telling detainees: ‘The Christmas story is your story’.
Catholic bishops in Kentucky and Wyoming issued statements affirming the human dignity of migrants as the Trump administration continued its mass deportation policy into the New Year.
“Nations have a right and responsibility to control their borders and to enforce laws meant to protect the population, but all laws must be enforced in a just and predictable manner that respects the God-given dignity of each human person,” said the Kentucky statement.
It was signed by Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville and three others and published on 4 January, when the US Church marked the Feast of the Epiphany. They expressed concern about “regular reports of immigrants with legal status having that status arbitrarily revoked; increasing incidents of political leaders vilifying immigrants; and the elimination of sanctuary protections for churches, hospitals, and schools”.
The statement condemned the growing “climate of hostility, anxiety and fear” and opposed “all efforts to stigmatise immigrants as a group or to spread fear based on national or ethnic origin”.
It followed a similar statement issued on 18 December by the bishops of Wisconsin, who said that while immigration is a “profoundly complex issue”, there is also “no inherent contradiction in upholding human dignity, the common good and the rule of law”.
Both statements echoed one from the bishops of New York State on 13 November, the day after the US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly at its plenary assembly in Baltimore to issue a group statement voicing “our concern here for immigrants”.
In response to widespread fear in immigrant communities, some bishops have also lifted the Sunday obligation for those fearing deportation. Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, granted such a dispensation on 23 December to those in his diocese who are in the US without proper documentation.
Fernandes said the increase in immigration enforcement activities had created “a rise in fear and anxiety” in the diocese’s immigrant community. Similar dispensations have been granted in other dioceses, including Baton Rouge, Louisiana, San Bernardino, California, and Nashville, Tennessee.
The Diocese of San Diego is set to open the Pope Francis Centre to support its migrant communities, hosting community workshops, providing legal consultations and connecting families to mental health services in commemoration of the late Pope’s advocacy for migrants.
In Florida, Archbishop Thomas Gerard Wenski of Miami preached at a Mass on Christmas Day for immigrants detained at the Krome Detention Centre and The Everglades Detention Facility, known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.
“May the birth of Christ renew in each one of you hope because the Christmas story is your story,” Archbishop Wenski said.
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