Arizona bishops release dramatic letter on immigration (Earth, gospel, experience)

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Arizona bishops release dramatic letter on immigration

Tucson, Dec. 09, 2005 (CNA) - The bishops of Arizona are calling on Catholics to welcome immigrants into their parishes, whether documented or undocumented, and to work to reform the U.S. immigration laws in an effort to facilitate immigration and stem the growing number of migrant deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Arizona Catholic Conference has made this appeal in its first-ever pastoral letter on migration, titled “You Welcomed Me.” It will be officially released Dec. 12, on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Arizona has become the focal point of the immigration debate in recent years, given the concentration of border crossing at the Arizona-Mexico border, the record number of migrant deaths, and the growing presence of civilian patrol groups, noted the bishops.

In 2005, at least 261 border crossing deaths were documented in Arizona—more than half of the 460 migrant deaths reported all along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bishops expressed their sadness about the deaths at the border, the division among citizens over the issue of immigration, and the hostility expressed toward migrants. They acknowledged “the legitimate strain of this crisis” on different aspects of society, but they reminded Catholics of their call “to live out the principles of global solidarity” and to defend the human dignity of the other.

Despite these hardships, the bishops said they believe Arizona can “lead the country to a comprehensive and permanent solution to our broken immigration system.”

Based in Scripture and teaching
The bishops highlighted the scriptural foundation for the call of Catholics to “welcome the stranger,” citing the experience of the people of Israel in Egypt and their subsequent liberation, the Gospel story of the Good Samaritan, and the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt as refugees.

Catholic social teaching has consistently maintained that the goods of the earth belong to all people and that it is the right of the worker to migrate to sustain their family when they are unable to achieve a life of dignity in their own land, the bishops underlined.

This teaching was stated in 1891 in the encyclical “Rerum Novarum.” It was repeated 40 years later by Pope Pius XI in his document “Quadragessimo Anno,” and then again at the end of World War II by Pope Pius XII in “Exsul Familia.”

And while Catholic teaching recognizes that nations have the right to control their own borders and to regulate immigration, “this right is not absolute,” said the bishops. Instead, they explained: “the needs of immigrants must be measured against the needs of the receiving countries, and that the rights of these nations must not be exaggerated to the point of denying access to needy people from other countries.”

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