In their Plenary Assembly this week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a Special Message on the topic of immigration.
A Special Message is a specific type of statement which is issued by these twice-annual assemblies. Not every assembly issues a Special Message; the last one was issued 12 years ago, on the federal government's contraception mandate.
According to the USCCB website, a Special Message is one "which the President of the Conference, the Administrative Committee, or the general membership consider to be appropriate in view of the circumstances at the time." This week's Special Message was issued by the general membership. The vote to approve it was 216-5, a remarkable display of unity.
The text of the brief Special Message is below the break. It is found here at the USCCB website.
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Special Pastoral Message
As pastors, we the bishops of the United States are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status. We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.
Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation. We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.
Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants. We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures. Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together.
We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good. Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Safe and legal pathways serve as an antidote to such risks.
The Church’s teaching rests on the foundational concern for the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). As pastors, we look to Sacred Scripture and the example of the Lord Himself, where we find the wisdom of God’s compassion. The priority of the Lord, as the Prophets remind us, is for those who are most vulnerable: the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger (Zechariah 7:10). In the Lord Jesus, we see the One who became poor for our sake (2 Corinthians 8:9), we see the Good Samaritan who lifts us from the dust (Luke 10:30–37), and we see the One who is found in the least of these (Matthew 25). The Church’s concern for neighbor and our concern here for immigrants is a response to the Lord’s command to love as He has loved us (John 13:34).
To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering, since, when one member suffers, all suffer (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26). You are not alone!
We note with gratitude that so many of our clergy, consecrated religious, and lay faithful already accompany and assist immigrants in meeting their basic human needs. We urge all people of good will to continue and expand such efforts.
We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials. In this dialogue, we will continue to advocate for meaningful immigration reform.
As disciples of the Lord, we remain men and women of hope,
and hope does not disappoint! (cf. Romans 5:5)
May the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe enfold us all in her maternal and loving care and draw us ever closer to the heart of Christ.
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"You are not alone." I presume this refers to God being with the downtrodden, because, to my knowledge, the Church is not providing any material succor for people sitting around in detention centers.
ReplyDeleteGiven that ICE blocks the Eucharist, I don’t see them permitting any other support. Like Israel blocking food and medical aid to Gaza, they want these people to suffer. Let’s face it. They enjoy it. Why should Israelis have all the fun?
DeleteGiven that Catholic schools in my area tried to sue the state of Miichigan for requiring face masks during covid, I don't know why the Catholics can't joint lawsuits against unlawful ICE raids.
Deletegood point.
DeleteOur archbishop shared the same message.
ReplyDeleteI know there are Catholic agencies helping with food and other aid for people whose Snap benefits were interrupted.
I don't know how they can provide aid to people in detention centers when they aren't allowed access.
There may be very little the Church can do besides object to the treatment of people by ICE. I don't discount that as nothing. Prob more than my weekly letters to elected reps do.
DeleteBut saying "you are not alone" strikes me as exaggerating what the Church can and or will do for these people. "You are not forgotten" seems a more apt description.
For some reason I'm not able to comment.
ReplyDeleteI keep getting reCAPTCHA errors.
DeleteI think my issue is, my Google Chrome browser is infected with a virus that replaces Google with Yahoo as my search engine. Just FYI, in case it happens to anyone else.
DeleteSounds like you are a victim of "search engine phishing". A few years ago we were dealing with one called " Xupiter". It was a royal pain to get rid of.
DeleteThere are some Catholics on the front lines of protests against ICE. A few bishops have put in appearances, too. Most of us who are with them in spirit are content, so far, to cheer them on.
ReplyDeleteBishops’ Statement on Immigration Falls Short
ReplyDeleteA pastoral message opposes “indiscriminate mass deportations” but takes care not to mention Trump or ICE.
by Heidi Schlumpf who now writes for Commonweal
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/bishops-statement-immigration-falls-short
Still dogged by credibility issues over their handling of the sex-abuse crisis and increasingly close alignment with Republican Party policies, the bishops now clearly want to be heard on the issue of immigration. But it’s unclear who they’re trying to convince: Catholic immigrants, including many foreign-born priests? The individuals and groups already working for migrant justice? The more than half of Catholic voters who voted for Trump, even as he promised mass deportations and used dehumanizing rhetoric about immigrants? Or Trump and the Catholics in his administration who are overseeing violent immigration raids in U.S. cities?
The statement’s strongest sentence—“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people”—was only added as a last-minute amendment suggested by Chicago cardinal Blase Cupich in the brief public discussion before the vote on Wednesday. The rest of the debate was held in executive session, closed to the media and public. The conference has held a larger and larger portion of the annual fall assembly meetings behind closed doors since the embarrassing debate over whether to publicly deny Communion to then-President Joe Biden in 2021.
Marissa Flores Madden, director of family immigration services for Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri and a member of the Dorothea Project, said it will take “innumerable prophetic gestures for our immigrant sisters and brothers to believe they are not alone.”
“Will the people who already support, accompany, and work with immigrants just keep doing what we’ve always done, albeit perhaps a bit more encouraged or even emboldened with the bishops’ message at our backs?” she said. “Or will this message ignite change in parishes and dioceses that have been, at best, lukewarm in their outreach to immigrants? Will the message be read at every Mass? Printed in every bulletin? Will the message reach your average Catholic who doesn’t even know the bishops met this week?
The bishops are very careful because money is a stake. Money from the federal government, money from rich donors who support Trump, and money from the Republicans in the pews who support Trump on immigration.
DeleteAs we hear in a recent Gospel you cannot serve God and money. The bishops were not listening. No wonder few people listen to them.
The fact that the USCCB members nearly unanimously supported this statement is in itself remarkable. Jim's post states that the last Special Message of this type was 12 years ago, that says something. I'm not going to criticize them too sharply because they didn't call out Trump by name. I thought the text of the message was good.
DeleteOf course Bishop Strickland, former bishop of Tyler Texas, put out his own rather disjointed statement. Seems like he is trying to go full sedevacantist.
In an age of insta-reaction, insta-opinion, insta-influencing and insta-rage via Twitter and "Truth" Social, the USCCB still insists on meeting in person two times per year, and then occasionally (e.g. once per decade or so) putting out a statement on current events. That is counter-cultural, to say the least. Probably it is a weakness in some ways, and it would behoove them to be more nimble as a conference. But in other ways it's a strength, if they spend the time listening, discerning, reflecting, discussing, studying and praying.
DeleteI found myself getting impatient reading the first part of the statement, in which the bishops declare themselves "disturbed", "saddened", "concerned", "grieved" and so on; what I wanted to read was that they're mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. I want them to be righteously angry, and express that anger in a way that reinforces and amplifies what we're feeling in our hearts, stirring us to courageous and responsible civic action.
But it gets better as it goes along. All in all, it's a pretty good effort.
I thought their social media video was good:
Deletehttps://www.facebook.com/share/r/16unSfmDVG/
As part of my preparation for the Office each day I read the Universalis site version of the martyrology. It becomes very evident that most of the saints, whether martyrs or confessors, found opposition from both the ecclesial and secular rulers of their day. In other words, the church has always stood in need of reformation, and many Catholic bishops and secular rulers in need of conversion and repentance.
ReplyDeleteThe reality for most Catholics is that they do not know their bishops. Only people who are deeply involved in Church life have much contact with them just as they don't have much contact with their governor, senator, representative, mayor, etc.
I view bishops as essentially church politicians subject to all the faults of secular politicians, i.e. overly influence by the desire for money, power, and status.
We need to have the same skepticism for them that we have for secular politicians.
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DeleteIn the early middle ages, bishops were peripatetic and heavily involved in conversion efforts, which emphasized their abilities to teach, persuade, and model Christian virtues.
DeleteTheir role quickly became more administerial later on--supervising clergy, overseeing building projects, squabbling with abbots and abbesses, and mediating between secular powers and Rome.
I see modern bishops primarily as CEOs of the diocesan enterprise. Like most CEOs, they are cautious, orthodox, moderately conservative, bittom-line oriented, and not too creative in their thinking.
You have a few who want to be firebrands of some sort. They might garner a fan base, but those guys are often ultimately divisive.
I met our archbishop yesterday. Every November they have a Mass for the repose of the deceased deacons of the archdiocese, with a brunch afterwards that is a meet and greet with the archbishop. They always have it at Fremont, which is kind of a central location for the deacon community.
DeleteArchbishop McGovern has been on board a little less than six months. I thought he was a good homilist and speaker. Of course you don't really get to know someone at these deals, but I was favorably impressed. Of course they're all administrators, but someone has to be.
Yes, nothing against administrators, CEOs, or executives who do their jobs well and maintain normal parameters within the organization. They should be able to articulate the status quo with a few punchy turns of phrase. But nobody looks to that type of guy to provide spiritual inspiration.
DeleteDavid French in an interesting opinion piece "Pope Leo doesn't want to be the Anti-Trump but is" makes the interesting case that it was appropriate for the Bishops NOT to mention Trump because the bishops are making a religious case not a political case.
ReplyDeleteFrench says in part:
"In May, just after the pope’s election, I wrote that the most important American in the world was no longer named Donald Trump. The president has less than four years left at the center of the international stage. The pope will present a global moral witness for years to come, and it’s a moral witness that is fundamentally incompatible with the cruelty and corruption of Trumpism."
The approach that Pope Leo takes, by contrast, puts virtue outside and above politics. His declarations are the living embodiment of Martin Luther King Jr.’s admonition that the church “is not to be the master or the servant of the state, but the conscience of the state.”
I’m not Catholic, but I can see that the Catholic Church enjoys some profound advantages over the American evangelical church in taking King’s approach. The Catholic Church is a global church that existed for more than a thousand years before the founding of America. American evangelicals, by contrast, often belong to churches and denominations that were founded in America, remain rooted in America, and they have a distinct, America-centered political worldview.
Sadly, this means that American evangelical influence is often rooted more in its partisan affiliations than in its moral witness. When Republicans dominate the government, evangelicals tend to feel more confident and secure. When Democrats win the White House, then evangelicals tend to feel more defensive and fearful, as if their churches are at the edge of extinction.
The result is a relentless one-way cultural ratchet that amplifies Democratic sins and minimizes Republican vices. It elevates politics to the place of religion because it is only through politics that many evangelicals can feel confident and secure in the practice of their faith.
This is why Trumpism is a thoroughly religious movement. Trump owes his political power to white evangelicals more than to any other group. In fact, according to exit polls, if you removed white evangelical votes from the 2024 presidential election, Trump would have lost in a 58-to-40 percent landslide, which would have been more than enough to turn the Electoral College in Kamala Harris’s favor.
Thanks for the excerpt, Jack. I avoid reading editorials these days, but interesting observation: "American evangelical influence is often rooted more in its partisan affiliations than in its moral witness."
DeleteOur old Episcopalian priest used to say that, in America, even the Catholics are Protestant. I think this has become more pronounced in recent decades.
Imo, "authentically Catholic" has nothing to do with Latin, cassocks, and piously veiled ladies. It means feeling an affinity with all humanity and being able to identify and trying to rectify the sins one's country inflicts on people globally.
David French is one of the few opinion writers that I still read.
DeleteI have no idea what an “authentic” anything is these days. It’s been added to my personal list of over- used, meaningless terms.
I look at meeting high level clerics at large events the same way I look at meeting high- level politicians and most other DC power people at events in DC - they are inevitably good speakers, if called on to speak (usually not though, at the events we used to go to ,which were unofficial - like school events): and great at superficial, meet and greet events, even small ones where there is something in common - a private school event, or a wedding reception or some such. They are charming, and convey the idea that they are truly, honestly, “authentically” absolutely delighted to meet you. Our sons went to private schools and so we would sometimes rub elbows with the local pols, cabinet members, journalists, clergy, etc whose kids went to our sons’ schools, or another in the network of independent schools. Too bad - it’s many years since our days mingling with VIP Catholics with kids in the local Catholic independent schools so I guess we won’t get to meet Vance. The kids all socialized together from multiple different independent schools (Catholic and not Catholic) so parents get to know each other too, superficially. The kids’ friendships have mostly endured into adulthood, but the parents go their separate ways after graduation for the most part. I admit I enjoyed meeting some of these famous names up close and personal, as people, without cameras and reporters lurking around. Several were news media journalist themselves. When Sam Donaldson sat down next to me on a raised fireplace hearth, both of us balancing plates of food from the buffet on our knees, I found him to be quite friendly. I suppressed a smile when he introduced himself, as if I wouldn’t have recognized his face and voice anywhere. I could drop several names of people whose names would be known by all here, but I will spare you. They all pretty much shared one characteristic - they are “charming” and convey the sense that they truly take a “personal” interest in everyone they meet, Even lowly folk like my husband and I were warmly greeted by political power brokers. The political person I most enjoyed meeting was Madeleine Albright.
Interesting article at Politico today about the frantic insider- outsider lobbying of trump from health insurance and big pharma companies.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/16/insurers-pharma-drugs-obamacare-trump-lobbying-00652761
The Politico article contrasts the lobbying efforts of the pharmaceuticals with those of the insurance industry. It's really kind of comparing apples to oranges. There isn't a path for the insurance industry to do what the pharmaceuticals are doing, which is working some side deals with the administration. The insurers need for the ACA subsidies to be renewed. Since Trump hates the ACA with the white hot fury of a thousand suns (which is basically how he hates any of Obama's achievements), it's an uphill battle. Trump's idea (or concept of a plan) is to throw some money at people to put toward medical savings accounts. Which already exist and won't solve the problem. But that doesn't make any difference, because he's always talking about giving people money but he never does it.
DeleteNot sure if anyone else is planning on watching Ken Burns's Revolutionary War show that drops on PBS streaming. Suggest someone with post privileges might want to start a thread.
ReplyDeleteWatching for one of my ancestors. He tried to claim a pension of some sort saying he served under Washington, but no record of his service could be found. Then he said, oh, yah, I forgot, I enlisted under a different name. But nobody could find that name, either. When they found a similar name, he said that was him, but turned out it was really his brother. He tried this a bunch of times and became notorious for it. He had a cousin who was some type of pirate.
Two of my favorite crooks.
My husband wants to watch the series. I originally wasn't keen on it because I don't like war stories. But I may decide to watch it.
DeleteTurns out one of my ancestors was around at the time too. I don't know anything about him other than his name, Recompense Stansbury.
We will probably watch it.. it starts tonight I think.
DeleteThe American Revolution thread started. As we watch with our own eyes the dismantling of America, it will be interesting to watch a documentary on how it all began.
DeleteAdvent is almost here, but Celtic Advent has already started. For those who are interested, the Washington National Cathedral’s Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage FB page ( public) is providing daily reflections on Celtic Advent.
Delete“Tonight marks the beginning of Celtic Advent, a 40 day period of preparation and, more importantly, waiting and being present with the rhythm of the natural world around us in the days leading to Christmas. Visit this page each evening during Celtic Advent for a short reading or insight into being present in the darkness and a reflection questions to think or write about. For today, I offer you the poem below by Wendell Berry and the invitation to reflect on your relationship with the dark.”
Thanks, David.
DeleteAnne says:
ReplyDeleteAdvent is almost here, but Celtic Advent has already started,
I did a post on seven weeks of advent back in 2023
https://newgathering.blogspot.com/2023/11/seven-weeks-of-advent-beginning-this.html
The Orthodox begin their pre-Christmas season and fast in mid-November. Sometimes I have joined them in starting early.
However, this year is different. For November 2nd, All Souls Sunday both my parish and Betty's home parish held special Masses when they commemorated all those who have died. Betty's daughter's ashes were buried in cemetery of her home parish, with the service being done by the deacon from my parish who knew the daughter from when she was in high school. So, both parishes included her death in their observances. Fortunately, one Mass was at 3pm and the other at 5pm. So, we have a votive candle from the one Mass at my parish and will be observing the whole month in honor of her memory. Actually, Betty's home parish has one of the side altars which has pictures of all those who died in the past year. Much of that display was designed by Betty who spend many years as their Art and Environment committee chairperson.
Can’t watch this series because I don’t have cable or satellite TV. I did just see “Nuremburg” based on the nonfiction book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist” by Jack El-Hai. The drama focuses mainly on the intense interplay between prisoner Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) and US Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek). Kelley is trying to isolate a factor in the nazis that makes them evil. At the same time, Crowe’s Göring is intelligent, charming, human and formidible. In the end, you can see that the movie is a call to Americans in this Trump era. If you let it happen, it will happen.
ReplyDelete