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Justice for All
We join with Catholic leaders across the country who raised their voices to express great disappointment following the Senate’s failure on June 28 to pass a bill to reform the nation’s current inadequate immigration system.
The bill, if it had become law, would have established a way for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the country to achieve citizenship.
Opponents to the bill – mostly Republican, but some Democrats – voted against ending discussion on the immigration bill, which blocked its passage. They contested that the borders must first be made more secure against new illegal immigrants before those who are already here are granted a route toward citizenship.
Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino, CA, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said he was “deeply troubled” by the vote.
“The status quo is morally unacceptable and should not be allowed to stand,” Bishop Barnes said. “The U.S. bishops shall continue to point out the moral deficiencies in the immigration system and work toward justice until it is achieved.”
In the Brooklyn Diocese, immigration reform would clearly address moral issues, which face many immigrants here. They and millions like them throughout the United States live in fear of deportation and separation from their families. They work hard, but may be fearful to speak up for their rights at work or where they live because they fear retribution because of their illegal status.
We can see this vividly in this week’s Page 9 story on the diocesan Migration Office’s Immigrant Tenant Advocacy Project. Tenants may live in substandard conditions rather than complain to a landlord because of their lack of English fluency, unfamiliarity with the laws, or their immigration status.
It has been said that all the nations of the world can be found in Brooklyn and Queens. All these people have left their homelands to find a better life. In many cases, we can hardly imagine the trials they have already lived through and survived to get here. In most cases, they just want to work hard and achieve a better life for their children. Just as many of our own grandparents did in the waves of immigration from Europe and elsewhere through the 20th century.
We celebrated the Fourth of July this past week. Let’s welcome these newcomers and offer them “liberty and justice for all.”
Catholic leaders across the country have promised to keep fighting for immigration reform and a just system of assimilating immigrants into the nation. Let us not fall victim to fear and misunderstanding about these newcomers, but instead welcome them.
The Pastoral Pope
An expected letter from Pope Benedict XVI and a yet-to-be published motu proprio from the Holy Father are in the news this week. One is addressed to the Catholics in mainland China and the other is an issue of importance to the Holy Father and meant for the entire Church.
Two different topics. Two different audiences. But they essentially deal with the same issue — unity and solidarity within the Church.
The letter from the pope to the Catholics of China is an attempt to bring together the long separated “two churches” of China. One is the government approved church and the other is the one which has maintained its freedom.
The document is a painstaking attempt to explain Catholic ecclesiology. It has no political overtones. It has no political agenda. It attacks no one. Instead it should serve as a starting point for a real dialogue between the Church and the Chinese government.
The voice of the Catholic bishops and priests in China is often prevented from reaching the government leaders and the laity there. Now that the letter of the pope is in the hands of leaders, bishops and priests, let the discussions begin!
Although we have not seen the pope’s soon to be released statement about an increase in the use of the Tridentine liturgy, those who have say that it also is a pastoral statement of concern for another segment of the Church.
Mass in Latin is not about to make a return to our everyday liturgy. The liturgy celebrated in the vernacular is not under siege. The new directives for the Latin liturgy should be seen as a greater outreach to Catholics who do not feel comfortable with the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council.
For too long, some have rallied around liturgical reforms as a source of division. Nothing should be further from the truth. The Eucharist is the source of our unity.
No one should stay away from the great gift of Jesus because of differences over what language is used for the celebration.
Pope Benedict again has chosen a pastoral approach to securing the unity of which the Church is a sign. Whether the topic is the Church in China or the language of the liturgy, Pope Benedict teaches by first preaching of the oneness that He intended for His Church.
May both these documents be read and accepted with the docility and openness that marks brothers and sisters in one family.
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