SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Hundreds of believers from different faiths joined the Catholic Diocese of San Diego today in a prayer and procession from St. Joseph Cathedral to a federal building in downtown to show support for immigrant families.
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy said today was about stopping the spread of fear.
“Just as Jesus, Mary and Joseph had to flee oppression to another land when they were on this Earth," Cardinal McElroy said, “So too we must stand with those who are immigrants here in our midst now and make sure that their safety is secure, and that humanity is respected.”
The Cardinal says he's not against immigration policies, and that Catholic teaching says that a country has a right to control its borders.
“But,” he said, “This undifferentiated war of fear on our undocumented population is unacceptable and certainly contrary to Catholic faith.”
Susan Brown Snook, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, says the prayer service intended to awake compassion.
“To remember what God has called us to do which is to love our neighbors,” Bishop Brown Snook said, “And exercise compassion on those who suffer and are vulnerable.
Both Bishop Brown Snook and Cardinal McElroy say many immigrant families are telling the churches they're living in fear.
“People are afraid to go to school or to go to food pantries or to go to church and exercise their freedom of religion,” Bishop Brown Snook said.
Cardinal McElroy says our country has two options.
“We can either move forward with a focused effort to secure the border in a way that is humane and respected of human rights,” the Cardinal says, “Or else we're going to embark upon, and are beginning to embark upon, a crusade which will end up breaking up families, causing untold suffering among our people.”
