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202.635.2649 fax
media inquiries:
(202) 635-5810
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contact us
staff bios
OTHER STATEMENTS OF NOTE (3 of 3)
His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, "Ministry to the
World's Uprooted People," Origins Vol. 14, No. 31 (January 17,
1985).
"Immigration is a 'sign of our times, the tip of the iceberg, the red light of
alarm that reveals violations of human and civil rights, distorted and
exploitative economic relations, personal and national tragedies.'"
Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., "Sacrament of Unity: Ethical Issues
in Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees", Today’s Immigrants
and Refugees (United States Catholic Conference, 1988).
"In the advancement of universal human rights, the two services the church
offers the world -- the defense of the dignity of the person and the building of
the unity of the human family -- converge. 'Promoting the rights of all persons,
irrespective of nationality,' the Council declared, Ôis accordingly of the
essence of the church's mission in the world.' "
Sermon of His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony, "You Have
Entertained Angels Without Knowing It!" (October 9, 1993)
"The rights of immigrants are a theme of extraordinary importance in Catholic
social teaching and follow from the basic principles of this teaching which
affirm life and human dignity. The right of persons to enjoy and share in the
benefits of the earth is an integral part of that teaching. The right to move
across borders to escape political persecution or in search of economic
survival is explicitly part of that tradition.... Catholic social teaching takes
what many view to be a countercultural position on this matter and insists that
the right to immigrate is more fundamental than that of nations to control
their borders."
"The command to love the stranger is a consistent theme throughout
Scripture and occurs nearly three dozen times in the first five books of the
Bible. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is surpassed in its frequency only by the
command to adore, love and revere God and God alone."
Luis Tampe, S.J., "The Lifeboat and the Banquet: Two Images for
Contemplating Immigrant Human Rights" (National Office of
Jesuit Social Ministries, Sept. 1995).
"Human beings, having one heavenly Father (Mt. 23:9), share the same origin
and destiny; this common link grounds the kinship among all peoples. For this
reason, love of God and neighbor is the first and greatest commandment."
"The centrality and dignity of all human beings in the ordered hierarchy of
nature arise because 'each person not only reflects God, but is the expression
of God's creative work and the meaning of Christ's redemptive ministry' .... the
dignity possessed by every person 'comes from God [and] not from any human
quality or accomplishment.' "
"Newcomers should not be welcomed primarily because of the benefits they
bring or provide .... The Church's view ... anchors itself in realities that
transcend nationality, ethnic background, and cost-benefit analysis; we have
all been created in the image and likeness of God, we are all primarily social
by nature, and the goods of the earth have been made for all to enjoy."
Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., "Movement, Asylum, Borders:
Christian Perspectives," International Migration Review, Vol. 30
(Spring 1996).
"The Catholic commitment to the unity of humankind does not derive from
devotion to an abstract universalism, nor is it simply an expression of the
social structure of the church as a global institution. Rather, with the Jewish
tradition, it shares in a very real way the memories of exile in Egypt and in
Babylon."
"Just as with biblical Judaism justice and kindness to the stranger and alien
was a fundamental duty of the Covenant, so too with the Christian community
true religion consists in care for widows and strangers. For example, the
paradigm of Christian charity, in a challenge to every form of chauvinism and
xenophobia, is the Good Samaritan who at great risk and cost to himself
overcomes ethnic and religious hostility to care for a Jew fallen among
thieves (Lk 10:29-37) ... the life of Jesus itself begins with the flight into Egypt
and the Holy Family's exile there as political refugees until the death of
Herod (Mt. 2:13-23). With the flight into Egypt, the status of refugee was
confirmed in a most solemn way as part of the human condition.
Subsequently, Christians have understood their condition as peregrini,
pilgrims, of homines viatores, homeless wayfarers, without permanent homes."
"[T]he self-understanding of the Church as a 'sacrament--that is, a sign and an
instrument--of communion with God and of the Unity of all men' entails
defense of human dignity of all who are opressed."
"Indeed, according to Vatican Council II, the service of unity across social,
political and cultural divisions is one of two ways in which the Church serves
the world. The other is related--namely the defense of human rights (Gaudium
Et Spes, No. 41-43). In concern for migrants and refugees, the service of unity
and the defense of human rights comes together."
"... Pacem in Terris, the charter of contemporary Catholic political theology,
in affirming that the end of all political authority is the common good,
understood as the promotion, defense and safeguarding of human rights,
affirms that when governments fail to ensure the human rights of their people,
it falls to other authorities to take on that role."
Rev. Kenneth R. Himes, "The Rights of People Regarding
Migration: A Perspective from Catholic Social Teaching", Who
Are My Sisters and Brothers? at 26-27 (United States Catholic
Conference, 1996)
"At the outset of the patriarchal narrative Yahweh tells Abraham, 'Go forth
from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will
show you' (Gn. 12:1). And the descendants of Abraham continued to move
from place to place sometimes as a result of economic forces, familial
disputes, war, or religious obedience. No lesson drawn from these experiences
looms larger than the command, 'You shall not oppress an alien; you well
know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the
land of Egypt' (Ex 23:9). The experience of being in a land not one's own was
to be indelibly impressed upon the imagination of the pious Jew. Each
generation had to learn the lesson, 'When an alien resides with you in your
land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no
differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as
for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt (Lv. 19:33).' The
experience of being an alien was never to be forgotten; but the lesson to be
learned was not that one should never forgive the Egyptian, nor never permit
the experience to occur again. Rather, the lesson was never to do to another
what the Jewish people had themselves suffered."
"The entire pastoral agenda of the Church changed to accommodate the
new immigrants and their descendants. For today's American Catholics to
have forgotten that history is akin to the prophets' claim about Israel's
historical amnesia regarding the exodus or exile."
His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, "Ministry to the
World's Uprooted People," Origins Vol. 14, No. 31 (January 17,
1985).
"Immigration is a 'sign of our times, the tip of the iceberg, the red light of
alarm that reveals violations of human and civil rights, distorted and
exploitative economic relations, personal and national tragedies.'"
Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., "Sacrament of Unity: Ethical Issues
in Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees", Today’s Immigrants
and Refugees (United States Catholic Conference, 1988).
"In the advancement of universal human rights, the two services the church
offers the world -- the defense of the dignity of the person and the building of
the unity of the human family -- converge. 'Promoting the rights of all persons,
irrespective of nationality,' the Council declared, Ôis accordingly of the
essence of the church's mission in the world.' "
Sermon of His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony, "You Have
Entertained Angels Without Knowing It!" (October 9, 1993)
"The rights of immigrants are a theme of extraordinary importance in Catholic
social teaching and follow from the basic principles of this teaching which
affirm life and human dignity. The right of persons to enjoy and share in the
benefits of the earth is an integral part of that teaching. The right to move
across borders to escape political persecution or in search of economic
survival is explicitly part of that tradition.... Catholic social teaching takes
what many view to be a countercultural position on this matter and insists that
the right to immigrate is more fundamental than that of nations to control
their borders."
"The command to love the stranger is a consistent theme throughout
Scripture and occurs nearly three dozen times in the first five books of the
Bible. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is surpassed in its frequency only by the
command to adore, love and revere God and God alone."
Luis Tampe, S.J., "The Lifeboat and the Banquet: Two Images for
Contemplating Immigrant Human Rights" (National Office of
Jesuit Social Ministries, Sept. 1995).
"Human beings, having one heavenly Father (Mt. 23:9), share the same origin
and destiny; this common link grounds the kinship among all peoples. For this
reason, love of God and neighbor is the first and greatest commandment."
"The centrality and dignity of all human beings in the ordered hierarchy of
nature arise because 'each person not only reflects God, but is the expression
of God's creative work and the meaning of Christ's redemptive ministry' .... the
dignity possessed by every person 'comes from God [and] not from any human
quality or accomplishment.' "
"Newcomers should not be welcomed primarily because of the benefits they
bring or provide .... The Church's view ... anchors itself in realities that
transcend nationality, ethnic background, and cost-benefit analysis; we have
all been created in the image and likeness of God, we are all primarily social
by nature, and the goods of the earth have been made for all to enjoy."
Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., "Movement, Asylum, Borders:
Christian Perspectives," International Migration Review, Vol. 30
(Spring 1996).
"The Catholic commitment to the unity of humankind does not derive from
devotion to an abstract universalism, nor is it simply an expression of the
social structure of the church as a global institution. Rather, with the Jewish
tradition, it shares in a very real way the memories of exile in Egypt and in
Babylon."
"Just as with biblical Judaism justice and kindness to the stranger and alien
was a fundamental duty of the Covenant, so too with the Christian community
true religion consists in care for widows and strangers. For example, the
paradigm of Christian charity, in a challenge to every form of chauvinism and
xenophobia, is the Good Samaritan who at great risk and cost to himself
overcomes ethnic and religious hostility to care for a Jew fallen among
thieves (Lk 10:29-37) ... the life of Jesus itself begins with the flight into Egypt
and the Holy Family's exile there as political refugees until the death of
Herod (Mt. 2:13-23). With the flight into Egypt, the status of refugee was
confirmed in a most solemn way as part of the human condition.
Subsequently, Christians have understood their condition as peregrini,
pilgrims, of homines viatores, homeless wayfarers, without permanent homes."
"[T]he self-understanding of the Church as a 'sacrament--that is, a sign and an
instrument--of communion with God and of the Unity of all men' entails
defense of human dignity of all who are opressed."
"Indeed, according to Vatican Council II, the service of unity across social,
political and cultural divisions is one of two ways in which the Church serves
the world. The other is related--namely the defense of human rights (Gaudium
Et Spes, No. 41-43). In concern for migrants and refugees, the service of unity
and the defense of human rights comes together."
"... Pacem in Terris, the charter of contemporary Catholic political theology,
in affirming that the end of all political authority is the common good,
understood as the promotion, defense and safeguarding of human rights,
affirms that when governments fail to ensure the human rights of their people,
it falls to other authorities to take on that role."
Rev. Kenneth R. Himes, "The Rights of People Regarding
Migration: A Perspective from Catholic Social Teaching", Who
Are My Sisters and Brothers? at 26-27 (United States Catholic
Conference, 1996)
"At the outset of the patriarchal narrative Yahweh tells Abraham, 'Go forth
from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will
show you' (Gn. 12:1). And the descendants of Abraham continued to move
from place to place sometimes as a result of economic forces, familial
disputes, war, or religious obedience. No lesson drawn from these experiences
looms larger than the command, 'You shall not oppress an alien; you well
know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the
land of Egypt' (Ex 23:9). The experience of being in a land not one's own was
to be indelibly impressed upon the imagination of the pious Jew. Each
generation had to learn the lesson, 'When an alien resides with you in your
land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no
differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as
for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt (Lv. 19:33).' The
experience of being an alien was never to be forgotten; but the lesson to be
learned was not that one should never forgive the Egyptian, nor never permit
the experience to occur again. Rather, the lesson was never to do to another
what the Jewish people had themselves suffered."
"The entire pastoral agenda of the Church changed to accommodate the
new immigrants and their descendants. For today's American Catholics to
have forgotten that history is akin to the prophets' claim about Israel's
historical amnesia regarding the exodus or exile."
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