Cardinals say immigration at ‘dark moment’ in US but call for hope

By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Two Catholic cardinals called the current U.S. immigration situation “a terrible crisis” and “a dark moment in our nation’s history” in remarks they made July 28 at the opening Mass and plenary session of the 2008 National Migration Conference.

Both Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles urged participants to hold on to hope in their work with immigrants for local and national church agencies.

The July 28-31 conference attended by more than 850 people was co-sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Relief Services.

Much of the agenda, built around the theme “Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice,” reflected the struggles faced by those who work with immigrants.

Workshops were scheduled on topics such as “How to respond to federal raids,” “Identifying and supporting survivors of traumatic events,” “A Catholic response to human trafficking” and “Parenting challenges from an African immigrant perspective.”

Another two dozen workshop sessions dealt with legal issues including “Filing waivers of inadmissibility” and “Immigration law and crimes”; strategies for fundraising; and getting out the church’s message on immigration.

“I see our challenge as one of shouting out the message of the Gospel, the words of the holy fathers, the unchanging teaching of the church, and in the profound conviction of our nation’s history that the real heart of America has not changed, that its willingness to right a wrong has not faulted, that it needs only continuous courage, unwavering confidence in the goodness of people and a trust in God’s love for the poor and the stranger,” said Cardinal McCarrick in his homily July 28.

Drawing from the Gospel reading of the parable of the mustard seed, Cardinal McCarrick said the story is full of optimism “that the kingdom of heaven itself can be sown in men’s hearts like a seed.”

The sowing of seeds is a theme in many of Jesus’ parables, he noted, with one important lesson that the seed is the word of God.

He said that lesson “is often lost because of the hardness of men’s hearts, the timidity of their belief and the temptations of the world, which sometimes allure them into political positions which they know in their hearts are wrong, since they do not conform to the loving providence of God.”

He said the parable also has a message “to keep sowing the seed, no matter what the likelihood of success … no matter how hard the sowing may be, no matter how challenging the prospects of success, keep sowing, keep sowing in confidence that God’s providence will provide the good soil. Do not give up; your seed will reach it yet; keep sowing, because if you stop the people will perish.”

Cardinal Mahony more directly took on the failure of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation and the federal enforcement policies that have led to “the separation of families, the harassment and profiling of U.S. citizens and legal residents, the expanded use of detention against those who are not a flight risk or a danger and, tragically, deaths in the United States desert.”

The recent national policy described as “deportation by attrition” has a goal of creating “such a dangerous and unwelcoming atmosphere that immigrants and their families leave the United States because they have no other choice,” said Cardinal Mahony.

It has led to fear among immigrant communities and a hostile atmosphere, “fanning the flames of intolerance, xenophobia and, at times, bigotry,” he continued.

“Such a national policy is doomed to fail because it underestimates the human spirit, the spirit of hope that we celebrate in this gathering,” the cardinal said.

The very act of migration is a hopeful one, he said, because it is based in the belief that a better life is possible for the migrant and his family.

He encouraged conference attendees to consider the call to hope expressed by Pope Benedict XVI in the encyclical “Spe Salvi” (“Saved by Hope”).

Hope “gives us the courage to place ourselves on the side of the good even in seemingly hopeless situations, aware that, as far as the external course of history is concerned, the power of sin will continue to be a terrible presence,” the encyclical said.

Cardinal Mahony said that, “despite the attacks on our position and on those we serve, we must not lose faith as to the rightness of our cause and of our service to our immigrant brothers and sisters. The church must remain a prophetic voice in an increasingly hostile wilderness, defending her mandate, given by Christ, to welcome the stranger.”

He outlined some suggestions for the church to work to change the current situation, including continuing to reach out and support immigrants; holding elected officials accountable by insisting on a human approach to immigrants; changing attitudes toward migrants through education; and working to reform immigration laws.

“While we are bound to respect our laws and not violate them, we also are bound to correct unjust laws,” Cardinal Mahony said. “The terms ‘rule of law’ and ‘national security’ should no longer be used to justify the harsh and inhumane treatment of immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers. While we acknowledge the right and the need for our government to enforce the law, we must remind our fellow Americans that man-made law does not permit the violation of God’s law.”

A letter of greeting to the conferees from Cardinal Renato Martino, as president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, was read by Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, the council secretary.

Cardinal Martino said an approach to the difficulties of migration should be intercultural, ecumenical and interreligious.

He said political action on migration should be comprehensive and “not turn the immigrant into the scapegoat for other crucial social issues, nor a threat to security and stability.”

The basis for church action on behalf of immigrants is “the affirmation that all persons are equal, well beyond the differences deriving from origin, language and culture,” Cardinal Martino said.
The church’s approach “affirms the central role and sacred character of the human being independently from his/her regular or irregular legal status. … The church is more and more convinced that making the most of the ethical-religious dimension of migration is the surest way to reach also other goals of high human and cultural value.”

Other prelates attending the conference included New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan; Guatemalan Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini Imeri of San Marcos; Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the bishops’ migration committee; Bishops Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., Frank J. DeWane of Venice, Fla., and Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio J. del Riego of San Bernardino, Calif.

Filed under: Migration, Social Doctrine, Social Justice

ZE08072805 – 2008-07-28Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-23358?l=english
“All Persons Are Equal, Well Beyond the Differences”
WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the message Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, sent to the 2008 National Migration Conference, which is under way in Washington, D.C. through Thursday.
The theme of the conference, sponsored by the U.S. bishops, is “Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice.”
* * *
Your Eminences,Your Excellencies,Honorable Participants,Ladies and Gentlemen:You are gathered here for the 2008 National Migration Conference on the theme “Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice”, organized by the “Migration and Refugee Services” (USCCB/MRS) and co-sponsored by the “Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.” (CLINIC).
Being it impossible for me to be physically with you, I make myself present to you through this Message, happy to encourage and praise your annual effort and to wish you every success.
I believe it is important to underscore, with you and for you, first of all, the positive aspects of migration especially in the perspective of the pastoral care of the Church. After all, it is in this context that places itself the Instruction “Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi” (The Love of Christ Toward Migrants) of our Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, approved by the Servant of God John Paul II, on May 1st 2004, and published two days later. This document, viewing the migration phenomenon under a new light, states that “the cultural situation today, global and dynamic as it is, calls for the incarnation of the one faith in many cultures and thus represents an unprecedented challenge, a true kairòs for the whole People of God” (n. 34).
As a matter of fact, this condensed expression condenses a series of positive features, rising above the controversial and dark facets of migration, beginning with the observation that “the passage from monocultural to multicultural societies can be a sign of the living presence of God in history and in the community of mankind, for it offers a providential opportunity for the fulfillment of God’s plan for a universal communion” (n. 9).
Moving the focus from the phenomenon itself to the people going through migration, it must be recognized that “migrants, too, can be the hidden providential builders of such a universal fraternity together with many other brothers and sisters. They offer the Church the opportunity to realize more concretely its identity as communion and its missionary vocation” (n. 103). Therefore, broadening even more the scope of this vision, it continues: “Today’s migrations may be considered a call, albeit a mysterious one, to the Kingdom of God, already present in His Church which is its beginning (cf. LG 9), and an instrument of Providence to further the unity of the human family and peace” (n. 104).
The far-reaching vision of the Instruction, in the end, demonstrates that “the migration phenomenon, by bringing together persons of different nationalities, ethnic origins, and religions into contact, contributes to making the true face of the Church visible (cf. GS 92) and brings out the value of migrations from the point of view of ecumenism and missionary work and dialogue” (n. 38).
In fewer words, the way of thinking of the Church, expressed particularly through the “Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi,” urges Christians to react to the challenges of migration in a positive, decisive, convinced, and coordinated way. The migration phenomena, in fact, are not confronted only by means of a series of random good deeds (first welcome), that are only the first step towards planned interventions with a much larger scope. A simplistic vision of the difficulties must give way to a global vision of all the human experiences that enter into the confrontation, the dialogue, the enrichment, and the interchange between different peoples. The development of an approach that be intercultural, ecumenical, and inter-religious is absolutely necessary, it demands the converging of a great number of responsibilities and offers new opportunities, as the “Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi” observes: “The growing number of Christian immigrants not in full communion with the Catholic Church offers particular Churches new possibilities of living ecumenical fraternity in practical day-to-day life and of achieving greater reciprocal understanding between Churches and ecclesial Communities, something far from facile irenicism or proselytism” (n. 56).
In this context the pastoral concern of the Church shows a singular merging of strategies and contents, proposing a course that will respect and build on the person of the migrant: keeping in mind the structural character of migrations, it is then expedient also to develop a political action explicit and comprehensive, that does not turn the immigrant into the scapegoat for other social crucial issues, nor a threat to security and stability. Our Instruction clearly emphasizes this point: “the precarious situation of so many foreigners, which should arouse everyone’s solidarity, instead brings about fear in many, who feel that immigrants are a burden, regard them with suspicion and even consider them a danger and a threat. This often provokes manifestations of intolerance, xenophobia and racism” (EMCC n. 6).
The basis for the action of the Church, instead, is the affirmation that all persons are equal, well beyond the differences deriving from origin, language and culture, in the belief of the unity of the human family. The approach of the Catholic Church, therefore, affirms the central role and sacred character of the human being independently from his/ her regular or irregular legal status, most of all in cases of defenselessness and marginalization, taking also into due account the family. Not only, the Church is more and more convinced that making the most of the ethical-religious dimension of migration is the surest way to reach also other goals of high human and cultural value.
[The message continued in Spanish]Naturally there exists the need for a specific pastoral care, especially for the first and second generations of immigrants, which is laid out in “Erga Migrantes Caritas Cristi” (cf. Parts II, III and IV), under the responsibility of the local bishop, but in communication with the Church of the originating nation (cf. Ibid. No. 70). In this respect, even in the United States, a cordial reception of “Erga migrantes caritas Christi” is necessary, such as the reception in other countries.[Translation by ZENIT]
Finally, I am happy to encourage you to study and to delve into the migration issues that are on the agenda for these days, and in communion of prayer I extend my best wishes for the success of this very important happening.
Cardinal Renato Raffaele MartinoPresident of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant PeopleVatican City, July 16, 2008

Filed under: Migration, Social Doctrine, Social Justice