Immigration statement by U.S. Catholic bishops energizes, worries some on Long Island

The statement this week from hundreds of U.S. Catholic bishops expressing solidarity with immigrants and criticizing "indiscriminate mass deportation" energized some of Long Island’s 1.2 million Catholics and worried others.

"I would say it’s about time," said Sister Janet Kinney, director of the Long Island Immigration Clinic for the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood. "This sends a message to our political leaders who we voted into office of how we feel — how we feel when we see indiscriminate sweeps of people off the streets, day laborers picked up, stakeouts outside of our schools."

William Donohue, president of the Manhattan-based Catholic League, faulted the document for failing to distinguish between "legal and illegal immigrants" and described the bishops’ dismay over deportation as selective. "Where were the bishops when we had indiscriminate mass invasion of our borders?"

Issued Wednesday at the bishops’ annual conference in Baltimore, the statement does not mention President Donald Trump by name but can be read as a criticism of his administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown; it is grounded in Christian Scripture about compassion and a duty of care for people who are vulnerable. It also explicitly calls for immigration reform.

"Generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation," the bishops wrote. "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."

The statement decries the "climate of fear and anxiety" surrounding profiling and immigration enforcement, vilification of immigrants, conditions in detention centers and "threats" against the special status of houses of worship, hospitals and schools, an apparent reference to the Trump policy allowing immigration enforcement in those locations. "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," the bishops wrote.

The statement, called a "special message," was adopted after a vote of 216 votes in favor, 5 votes against and 3 abstentions. The last special message was issued in 2013.

A spokesman for Bishop John Barres of the Rockville Centre Diocese did not make anyone available for an interview but said in an email that Barres was "heavily involved" in drafting a statement on Thursday by Catholic bishops of New York State that largely aligns with the one issued Wednesday by the national conference.

New York bishops called for "immigration laws that respect our borders and create an orderly process for those who wish to enter our nation, while offering a measure of forgiveness towards those who arrived here without legal status but who have proven their contributions and loyalty to our country over a period of time."

The conference goes on to cite the biblical imperative "To love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. All other imperatives are subject to this law of charity, and it is concerned neither with legal status nor country of origin."

Advocates like Kinney and Richard Koubek, a former Catholic Charities policy advocate now working with Long Island Jobs with Justice and Long Island Immigrant Justice Alliance, said they hoped the statements would galvanize believers.

"They were, in certain ways, rebuking the Trump administration for its treatment of immigrants on the most fundamental of church teachings, the dignity of every person," Koubek said, adding the administration's policies were "instilling fear. They are, in effect, violating basic rights."

Koubek said he hoped Barres would encourage Long Island Catholics to read and discuss the statement from the state conference. "I want them to bring it into our parishes, ask our parishes to preach about it," he said. "I want them to celebrate a Mass for immigrants and ask all of us to read the document."

Outside Mass at St. Agnes Cathedral on Thursday, Long Islanders reacted to the statements with varying opinions. 

Myrna Grubman, of Oceanside, said the president’s immigration policies were "correct" and well-intended, if sometimes implemented "inhumanely."

John Darrin, of Oceanside, who said he was born into Catholicism but does not practice the faith, called the president’s immigration policies “cruel and inhumane … I don’t think a Christian would just take people who are trying to make a better life for themselves. Some of them are probably here illegally, but they’re just trying to make a better life for themselves.”

Newsday's Virginia Huie contributed to this story.

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.