While many gathered with family to celebrate Christmas, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor and other faith leaders from around the state reminded people that because of a broken immigration system, there are many others who are unable to get together with family.
Joining Bishop Taylor in the telephone press conference Dec. 18 were Rev. Steve Copley, director of Arkansas Justice for Our Neighbors, a ministry of the United Methodist Church; Wendell Griffen, pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock; and Eddie Cantu, pastor of Centro Cristiano Hispano Assembly of God Church in Springdale.
The telephone press conference was part of Faith in Public Life’s “Home for the Holidays” interfaith campaign, which is supported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The campaign is targeting residents in seven states, including Arkansas, to urge Congress to tackle comprehensive immigration reform that would reunite families.
There are many stories of people wanting to reunite with family but who are afraid, the religious leaders said.
“We have a member in our church whose father passed away earlier this year in Mexico, and he was not able to attend the funeral. He wanted to go so bad but his family, his wife and his children were saying, ’Daddy, please don’t go’ and I had to go over there and convince him to not go to Mexico,” Cantu said. “If he went to Mexico he was jeopardizing any chance he had of becoming legal in this country and with a broken heart, he was not able to attend his father’s funeral.”
God gave us certain rights, including basic necessities for life such as the right to immigrate in certain situations, Bishop Taylor said.
The teaching of the Catholic Church builds on Scripture and the witness of Christ regarding the dignity of a human person, created by God, redeemed by Christ. The Catholic Church believes God gave us rights that are inherent, that society cannot deny us, Bishop Taylor said.
“Even our own Declaration of Independence emphasizes that all of us have been endowed by our creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and I note that it doesn’t say that those who are already in this country have these rights,” Bishop Taylor said. “The creator has given this to all humans.
“This right to life leads to the right of basic necessities for life and including the right to immigrate if the circumstances require, when the person can no longer provide suitably for their family in their country of origin. When a person can no longer provide for their family where they live, they are morally obligated to pursue other options, which might mean migration in their own country or to another country,” he added.
Immigrants must also invest themselves in society by registering, paying taxes and learning English for citizenship, he added.
Like the other church leaders, Rev. Copley pointed to the Bible, which shows a God concerned about justice and righteousness.
“We have a moral imperative, a moral duty and a calling to care for them and I know my other colleagues will add and elaborate on many of these themes but that is where I come from we need to look at comprehensive immigration reform, we need to offer justice to those who are in our midst,” he said. “As a person of faith I am concerned about families.”
Right now there are many families that need to be reunified and need a process for reunification, he said.
Griffen said his congregation is located only blocks away from the Mexican consulate in Little Rock, in a community growing with people from all parts of the world.
“I am reminded of the fact that in the New Testament Jesus said you can sum up the entire moral law in two cardinal statements: loving God with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength and secondly, loving the neighbor as oneself,” he said.
“And the question for me, and I think the question for our society morally, is whether or not we are prepared as a society to treat people who migrate, as neighbors,” he continued.
Bishop Taylor, Rev. Copley and Griffen said they were optimistic about immigration legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representative called the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act, or CIR ASAP.
The U.S. bishops’ postcard campaign in early 2010 will urge Congress to take up as its next priority comprehensive immigration reform that would reunite families, regularize the status of an estimated 12 million people in this country illegally and restore due process protections for immigrants.
Catholic News Service contributed to this article.
