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As far as Msgr. Kevin Sullivan is concerned, for Catholics the exhortation is not open to equivocation or political expedience.
“From a very specific point of view, Jesus told us, he said he who welcomes the stranger, the alien in my name, welcomes me. It’s that simple,” said the executive director of Archdiocesan Catholic Charities in explaining the Church’s response to the humanitarian crisis taking place on our southern border where more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America seeking asylum from violence and crime have been apprehended by the Border Patrol.
Msgr. Sullivan said while the Church’s responsibilities to these youngsters are clear, that does not mean the Church is in favor of illegal immigration.
He stressed the Church’s stance is entirely in keeping with the law, specifically a law passed by Congress in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush to curb child trafficking. That law requires that the government allow minors from Central America time to seek protection in the United States, and not be subject to immediate deportation as is the case with illegal immigrants from Mexico.
“The current situation of the surge of children arriving at the southern border is one in which in the tradition of this country, those who are fleeing violence, fear of persecution or abuse in their own countries are given refuge in this country for a humanitarian purpose,” he explained. “What we are doing now as a country and what Catholic Charities is doing is providing that safe haven for those seeking to flee from abuse and violence in their native countries.”
Msgr. Sullivan told CNY Aug. 5 that the current crisis is distinct from the larger issue of illegal immigration but is related.
“One of the reasons that there does need to be a fair and a just process to look into and adjudicate the children who are coming here is because we need to ensure that those coming here are legitimately fleeing violence, persecution and abuse in their own countries,” he explained.
“Where this relates to the overall immigration question is, and this needs to be said very clearly, the Catholic Church is not in favor of illegal immigration. It is for that reason that we believe the laws of this country need to be reformed and a comprehensive approach needs to be taken, which provides for a fair and humane legal immigration system that doesn’t precipitate illegal immigration.”
Catholic Charities is providing a range of services to the unaccompanied minors that have arrived in the archdiocese including an orientation so the children know what their legal rights are. The agency also provides individual legal consultation to determine each child’s specific status and offers some orientation for potential custodians, the relatives with whom the children will be placed. In addition some Catholic Charities agencies have been or will be providing residential services, safe places where the children can live for a period of time until they are placed with their custodial relatives.
On Sunday, Aug. 3, Cardinal Dolan made a pastoral visit to immigrant children being temporarily housed at Lincoln Hall in northern Westchester, where he celebrated Mass and engaged them in conversation.
“At Lincoln Hall and in similar residences children receive temporary housing, education, health and the legal support they need to survive and begin to re-establish their lives,” the Cardinal later blogged of his visit quoting Pope Francis’s comments on the crisis. “Pope Francis said it so well, late last month when he reminded us that ‘this humanitarian emergency requires us, as a first urgent measure these children be welcomed and protected.”’
Msgr. Sullivan said some of the children he has met appear miraculously physically healthy given the arduous and dangerous journey they had just completed. But he said they also appeared to be emotionally fragile.
“I’m not a doctor so I can’t evaluate their physical condition. I’m not a psychiatrist so I can’t evaluate their emotional condition professionally but as a human being, having met some of these young people, my impression is they are incredibly healthy.
“They have made an incredibly hazardous, threatening, long journey thousands of miles and they seemed to me to be in pretty good physical shape,” he noted. “From their emotional state my impression is that these are children who have fled very difficult situations. Many of them carry scars from the past and are trying to transform themselves in a new situation and that adjustment requires a lot of support in order to make sure that transition is made well.”
As for the welcome these children will ultimately receive, Msgr. Sullivan was optimistic.
“We’re fully aware that in this very, very tense environment it is difficult to communicate an approach that is balanced, an approach that looks at various sides of an issue but that will not stop us from saying what we need to say nor doing what we have to do. I personally have a belief that despite the rhetoric this country, independent of partisan politics, will move in a direction that does understand the importance of living up to our values, welcoming those who seek refuge here, securing our borders, providing a way for people who are here to earn a way out of the shadows. It will not be easy but I think the best of our country will respond to that and that we will move forward in that direction.”
