Third Sunday of Lent

Last week I wrote about the actions taken on the “Day without Latinos” in Wisconsin. While much of that action was focused upon effecting political change, many people of faith responded with compassion to be in solidarity with immigrants and other “displaced people.” Parish offices were close on that day. Many prayers and sacrifices were offered for the good of those who are vulnerable, afraid, and stressed out because of their immigration status.

Our Catholic faith, rooted in the long-standing teachings of our Judeo-Christian tradition, has always sought justice for the vulnerable, including the “alien stranger.” This is the language of the Bible. Jesus teaches that we are to follow the commandment to love our neighbor. Immigrants are our neighbors. See the following citation from Pope Francis:

“The Church is Mother, and her motherly attention is expressed with special tenderness and closeness to those who are obliged to flee their own country and exist between rootlessness and integration. This tension destroys people. Christian compassion—this ‘suffering with’ compassion—is expressed first of all in the commitment to obtain knowledge of the events that force people to leave their homeland, and where necessary, to give voice to those who cannot manage to make their cry of distress and oppression heard…They are all elements that dehumanize and must push every Christian and the whole community to concrete attention.”

(Pope Francis in his Address to the Participants in the Plenary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, May 24, 2013)

Furthermore, The Catholic Bishops of the United States and Mexico, in communion with the St. Pope John Paul II, in his 1996 World Migration Day message, affirm that:

In the Church no one is a stranger, and the Church is not foreign to anyone, anywhere. As a sacrament of unity and thus a sign and a binding force for the whole human race, the Church is the place where illegal [sic] immigrants are also recognized and accepted as brothers and sisters. It is the task of the various Dioceses actively to ensure that these people, who are obliged to live outside the safety net of civil society, may find a sense of brotherhood in the Christian community. Solidarity means taking responsibility for those in trouble.

I think that it is important to repeat that when people are seeking justice and compassion the Church must act because of the commandment of love. This is necessary even to the point of taking actions which touch the political arena.

Peace, Fr. Andy