From left, Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, address reporters at a news conference during the conference’s annual fall meeting in Baltimore Monday, Nov. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
Religion » Utah’s Wester says comprehensive reform is the priority, but “the situation needs urgent action.”
Baltimore • The nation’s Catholic bishops are jumping into the increasingly contentious battle over immigration reform by backing President Barack Obama’s pledge to act on his own to fix what one bishop called “this broken and immoral system” before Republicans assume control of Capitol Hill in January.
In an unscheduled address Tuesday at the hierarchy’s annual meeting, Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, chairman of the migration committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the USCCB would continue to work with both parties to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
But, Elizondo said, given the urgency of the immigration crisis and the electoral gains by Republicans who have thwarted earlier reform efforts, “It would be derelict not to support administrative actions … which would provide immigrants and their families legal protection.
Elizondo acknowledged that Republicans “might block any kind of initiative that the president might be taking” but said something had to be done.
Elizondo was not the only bishop to speak out on the issue this week.
Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., a leader in the USCCB and a vocal champion of immigration reform, told the Catholic news site Crux that “it may be necessary for the president to step up and to act” on his own.
Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, the president of the bishops conference, also made a point of telling the bishops — and the news media covering the meeting — that he plans to meet with Obama and leaders of both parties in coming months in hopes of pushing immigration reform to the top of the agenda.
Comments:
When is the Holy Catholic Church finally going to learn that
“WE CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS”…
