USCCB on worksite raids

Statement of Most Reverend John C. Wester
Bishop of Salt Lake City
Chairman, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration
On
Worksite Enforcement Raids
September 10, 2008

On behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), I call upon the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and President Bush to reexamine the use of worksite enforcement raids as an immigration enforcement tool. The humanitarian costs of these raids are immeasurable and unacceptable in a civilized society.

In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, we have sought to work collaboratively with DHS to ensure that raids are carried out humanely. It seems to us that DHS has attempted to abide by several humanitarian considerations in executing some of the workplace raids.

However, we believe that DHS has not gone far enough to ensure that human rights protections are consistently applied in all enforcement actions.

For over a year now, DHS has targeted employers who hire unauthorized workers by using force to enter worksites and arrest immigrant workers. During the process of these raids, U.S.-citizen children have been separated from their parents for days, if not longer; immigrants arrested have not been afforded the rights of due process; and local communities, including legal permanent residents and U.S. citizens, have been disrupted and dislocated. The sweeping nature of these raids---which often involve hundreds of law enforcement personnel with weapons---strike fear in immigrant communities and make it difficult for those arrested to secure basic due process protections, including legal counsel.

We have witnessed first-hand the suffering of immigrant families and are gravely concerned about the collateral human consequences of immigration enforcement raids on the family unit. Many of our local parishes have helped respond to human needs generated by these enforcement actions, providing counseling and legal services to parents and children and basic needs assistance to immigrant communities.

Raids strike immigrant communities unexpectedly, leaving the affected immigrant families to cope in their aftermath. Husbands are separated from their wives, and children are separated from their parents. Many families never recover; others never reunite.

As our government confronts the challenges of immigration, let it not forget one of its core duties: protecting the family unit as the fundamental institution upon which society and government itself depends.

While we do not question the right and duty of our government to enforce the law, we do question whether worksite enforcement raids are the most effective and humane method for performing this duty, particularly as they are presently being implemented. In this regard, we ask DHS to immediately pledge to take the following actions to mitigate the human costs of these raids:

-DHS should refrain from enforcement activity in certain areas that provide humanitarian relief—churches, hospitals, community health centers, schools, food banks, and other community-based organizations that provide charitable services;


-Primary, not simply sole, caregivers should be released following an enforcement action to care for their children. A variety of release mechanisms, including parole in the public interest, release on recognizance, bail, and alternatives to detention should be utilized for this purpose: DHS should facilitate access to meaningful legal representation for arrested individuals so that they are aware of their legal rights and options;


-Enforcement actions should be conducted in a manner which preserves basic human dignity: immigrants who are working to survive and support their families should not be treated like criminals.

-Mechanisms should be instituted to allow family members to remain together and to locate each other during and following an enforcement action. Non-profit and community groups should be engaged in this effort.

Absent the effective and immediate implementation of these safeguards, we believe that these enforcement raids should be abandoned.

Immigration enforcement raids demonstrate politically the ability of the government to enforce the law. They do little, however, to solve the broader challenge of illegal immigration. They also reveal, sadly, the failure of a seriously flawed immigration system, which, as we have consistently stated, requires comprehensive reform.

As they begin their general election campaigns, we urge the two presidential candidates to engage the issue of immigration in a humane, thoughtful, and courageous manner.

We urge our elected and appointed officials to turn away from enforcement-only methods and direct their energy toward the adoption of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

Bodies are in Kansas City and I'm Ambivalent

Archbishop Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas and Bishop Finn of Kansas City- St. Joseph (Missouri) have issued a joint statement against the latest exhibition of plasticized bodies.

Todd in Kansas City has noted a parallel between this exhibit and certain elements of the veneration of relics in the Catholic Church. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't mention the 1996 reformation in the use of relics - which have been aimed specifically at respect for the body (but then again, he might not have heard). Indeed, the Church has struggled (and not always perfectly) to maintain a proper balance between veneration and abuse.

My first response to this comparison is that it is mainly a structural parallel. Yes, the practices are similar on the surface, but the meaning, the heart of what is done is totally different.

And then I was talking with some other Confirmation teachers after class last night. One of her students brought a question asked the same day by her public school teacher: why do the Catholic bishops discourage this display? The other question raised was: can I go? The bishops guide us and we listen to them, but we also have the responsibility of making a prudential judgment. We agreed that if a student goes, they do so keeping in mind the bishop's guidance; they are responsible for maintaining a reverent attitude; and they must judge what they see.

In this conversation, I brought up Todd's parallels. Todd mentions in particular a process just applied to the body of St. Padre Pio (Thanks Todd, you really made me think!). But Saints' relics are treated with deep respect and the identity of the individual is heightened. For example, a bone chip of St. Anthony of Padua may not look like much, but people kiss the glass of its reliquary (as I have), in order to honor a particular man who lived for Christ.

No, what occurred to me in this conversation was the Capuchin Ossuary in Italy. And here's the Sedlec ossuary of the Czech Republic. Anonymous bones arranged in decorative patterns, some even imitating the poses of life. Now that sounds familiar.

So what's the difference between these medieval ossuaries and the plasticized body exhibits? The entire culture is what's different. The ossuaries expressed a culture in which everything was a sign of the truth made flesh. Plasticized bodies express a culture in which nothing is a sign, everything is a stimulas, an entertainment. What's the difference? The difference is in the heart of the beholder to some degree. One could walk through plasticized bodies marveling at the wonder of the human body (as Sharon did at an exhibit near her) or one could see it all as a freak show, a novelty. Of course, that's what goes on in the medieval ossuaries today, I would think (a commentator over at Todd's Catholic Sensibility saw this happen in European cathedral. There is a difference, however. In the medieval ossuaries, the Christians who built them couldn't help but testify to the truth that they recognized: what you are we once were; what we are you will become. If I go to see the plasticized bodies, I'll have to bring that lesson in with me.

Homily on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter

Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Kansas City in Kansas
Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter
Memorial Mass for Monsignor Luigi Giussani
Benedictine College
February 22, 2008

I
What Does Atchison Have in Common with New York?
It is a privilege to celebrate with you this afternoon this Feast of the Chair of St. Peter as we also prayerfully remember on the third anniversary of his death Monsignor Luigi Giussani. What do New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Rochester, Minnesota and Atchison, Kansas have in common? Each of these great metro areas is blest to have Memores Domini community – the lay branch of Communion and Liberation – the movement which Father Giussani was the Holy Spirit’s instrument in giving birth.

II
Communion with Peter and His Successors
Today, in the liturgical calendar we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. We remember the great apostle upon which Jesus chose to build his Church. The fact that the great Basilica of St. Peter in Rome is built upon the tomb of Peter provides a striking metaphor on how the Lord has built his Church on the Rock of Peter and his successors.

I wear the Pallium that was given to me on the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul the same year of Monsignor Giussani’s death, by the current Successor of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI. The lambs, who gave the wool for this Pallium, had been blest by the late Pope John Paul II on the Feast of St. Agnes and the finished product was laid on the tomb of Peter, blest and bestowed by Pope Benedict XVI.

Monsignor Giussani was a dear personal friend to both of these Popes. Yet, in addition to his personal relationship with Karol Wojtyla and Joseph Ratzinger, he was a friend of the Successors of St. Peter because he was a friend to their Lord and his Lord. This Pallium, in part,symbolizes my communion and the communion of my ministry as the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City and the Province of Kansas with the ministry of the Successor of Peter on behalf of the universal church.

It is also a reminder of the truths: 1) I do not carry this responsibility alone but Jesus bears this yoke with me – making it light and 2) I am not charged to teach my own philosophy or theology, thank God, but to teach Jesus and the fullness of the Faith entrusted to Peter and the Apostles and their Successors. This Feast is a reminder of the great blessing that Jesus gave to His Church by entrusting the keys to Peter and His successors, giving the Church a magisterium – a teaching authority in the person of Peter in communion with the other Apostles and their successors who under the guidance of the Holy Spirit were charged to guard the integrity of the Gospel of Jesus and make its application to the unique circumstances and challenges presented by each age.

We thus pray in a very special way for Pope Benedict XVI today that the Lord may continue to bless and make fruitful his ministry as Shepherd of the universal Church. How could we not be reminded of our Holy Father when we listened to the first reading today from the First Epistle of St. Peter exhorting priests to be humble and faithful shepherds of the flock of Jesus?

III
You are the Christ the Son of the Living God

The Gospel today presents us with Peter’s great profession of faith at Caesarea Philippi. When Jesus asks the Apostles the pointed and personal question: “Who do you say that I am?”, it is Peter who answers: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter’s great strength was not his superior intelligence, not his personal strength of character, not his leadership skills. Peter’s strength was his relationship with Jesus. Whatever his personal weaknesses and flaws, which the Gospel documents were many, Peter knew who Jesus was, and Peter knew of the love of Jesus for him!

From Peter’s realization of his own unworthiness to be in the company of Jesus after the great catch when Jesus first invited Peter to put out into the deep to Peter’s desire to have his feet and hands and head washed when Jesus instructs Peter: “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”, the Father had given Peter special insight into the true identity of Jesus. It was the power of the depth of Peter’s love for Jesus that, despite his sinking in the water, his attempts to dissuade Jesus from the cross, and even his cowardly denial of Jesus in the Courtyard of the High Priest, made Peter indeed a rock upon which Jesus could build his church.

IV
Begging for Jesus

Monsignor Giussani understood the primacy of the relationship with Jesus for every Christian. It was because he sought this in his own life and formed this constant yearning for Jesus in the formation of those who became part of Communion and Liberation that the Holy Spirit was able to make his ministry so remarkably fruitful.

Monsignor Giussani understood prayer to be first and foremost this seeking of communion with Jesus, this begging for Jesus to enter his heart. He wrote: “…Christ reveals Himself to me, He reveals His presence to me and comes into my life the more I ask for Him, because He does not come in where He is not awaited. The essence of prayer is begging for Christ: `Come, Lord Jesus,’ it is the last word in the Bible and first word of the early Christians. … Prayer is the only phenomenon in which man engages his whole stature. Whoever follows the life of the Movement can testify that I personally do not talk about anything else, in comparison, more than this. Because man is aspiration, he is a search; he is neither aspiration nor search if he is not an entreaty.”

Page Three

V
From the One Who is Truth Comes Freedom

Monsignor Giussani understood that it is in this seeking of Jesus, seeking the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, that true liberation and freedom is to be found. Monsignor Giussani believed not just in his mind but in his heart the instruction of Jesus: “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.”

The future Pope Benedict XVI described this abandonment of himself in the pursuit of Jesus in a homily he gave at Monsignor Giussani’s funeral Mass:

This love affair with Christ, this love story which is the whole of his life was however far from every superficial enthusiasm, from every vague romanticism. Really seeing Christ, he knew to encounter Christ means to follow Christ. This encounter is a road, a journey, a journey that passes also – as we heard in the psalm – through the ‘valley of darkness.’ In the Gospel, we heard of the last darkness of Christ’s suffering, of the apparent absence of God, when the world’s sun was eclipsed. He knew that to follow is to pass through a valley of darkness,’ to take the way of the cross, and to live all the same in true joy.

“Why is it so? The Lord himself translated this mystery on the cross, which is really the mystery of love, with a formula in which the whole reality of our life is explained. The Lord says, ‘Whoever seeks his life, will lose it and whoever lose his life, will find it.

VI
Seek Communion with Jesus above all Else

On this Feast of Peter, let us pray for the gift to recognize Jesus for who He is: “…the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” As we come forward to receive the Eucharist, let us beg that the Holy Spirit might open us to receive the one who desires to reside in the tabernacle of our hearts. May we seek communion with Jesus above all else! May we seek to lose our own ambitions and desires and thus find life, freedom and joy in He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

"Moving beyond the parochial vision"

My pastor told us about a meeting in my diocese looking forward to changes over the next few years. One thing on the horizon is a certain consolidation of services between parishes. This consolidation is a point of anxiety for many folks who fear the loss of parish identity. On the other hand, the bishop reminded us recently that 'we are not congregationalists.' Rather, we are Catholics, and our catholicity requires awareness of how everything is directed 'according to the whole' (kata- holos). And so my pastor appealed to the parish to move beyond the parochial.

I was interested to learn from Fr. Giussani about the development of parishes in the Church:

«The most recent studies show that first the apostles and then their successors, the bishops, long resisted the tendency to multiply local communities out of their desire to preserve true unity in the Church. Thus at first many cities, or dioceses if we can call them such, remained linked to an apostle; then for a long time the dioceses remained centered around the bishop, and the "parishes" - in the modern sense - were few at first. It was only in feudal times that the number of parishes increased; and the clergy remained bound to their own Church, and to their own piece of land ("benefice") rather than to the bishop. One of the spiritual consequences of this was a weakened sense of ecclesial communion and contact with the life of the universal Church. This in turn led to a decadence of the clergy, who tended to isolate themselves and settle for the very limited religious needs of the people.»

(The Journey to Truth Is an Experience, p 110-111)

When I read this passage, it's clear to me why the bishops now reassign priests periodically. It's so that the pastors will continue to be a sign of catholicity to the parishes. And the people, even if they don't move around, need to adhere to the bishop so that they too, will announce the presence of Christ who draws us ever deeper into communion with the totality of the Church.

During Advent I had the opportunity to experience this catholicity during a reconciliation service at a parish other than my own. There were 15 priests there including an auxiliary or emeritus bishop. During this service this parish went beyond the parochial vision - it became the locus for the universal Church. One could see then that it was no longer the church of Corinth but the Church herself in Corinth.

As I lean into Lent, I want to remember those instruments that cultivate in me an ever greater awareness of the totality of the Church. Fr. Giussani reminds us that the early Church used letters of communion (Litterae Communionis) to bind each place in the Church with the whole. And so, I want to be more faithful to Traces - the magazine whose particular mission it is to build up this communion among all. And also, I want the Good Friday Way of the Cross to be a more public sign of communion in Christ.