Sanctuary
The beginning of an article published May 9th in the New York Times, by James Barron:
"Recalling a movement that challenged United States policy in Central America in the 1980s, several religious congregations in New York and other cities will announce a campaign Wednesday to provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants who face deportation.
As of Tuesday, the organizers of what is being called the New Sanctuary Movement said that five churches in New York City had already offered assistance to two families — one from China and one from Haiti — and would provide them with shelter if the federal government moved to enforce the deportation orders filed against them.
“We’re launching now because we’re fed up with detentions, deportations and raids,” said the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, the senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. “We felt it was not morally possible to remain silent.”
Dr. Schaper and a half-dozen other religious leaders are scheduled to gather this morning at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, a Roman Catholic parish at 405 West 59th Street, near Columbus Avenue, to announce their participation in the campaign.
Other announcements about the New Sanctuary Movement are scheduled in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle, and the organizers said that prayer vigils supporting the effort would be held in other cities.
The campaign comes as Congress and the Bush administration wrangle over immigration reform. President Bush and many Democrats have called for a path to legalize some 12 million illegal immigrants, but a significant number of Republicans in Congress advocate a broader campaign of deportations.
“We don’t expect any easy answers, but we believe the moral issues have to be lifted up,” said the Rev. David Rommerein, the pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Brooklyn, which has been debating how it can help the campaign.
Juan Carlos Ruiz, one of three national coordinators of the New Sanctuary Movement, said one inspiration for the project was the case of Elvira Arellano, a Mexican woman who came to the United States illegally in the 1990s and who has been living under sanctuary at a Chicago church since August..."
That was just a blog-sized taste. To see more, visit http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/content/news/2007/05/congregations_to_give_haven_to.html, then follow the link at the bottom of the page to the NY Times page with the full article.
Did anyone read this article and see Quasimodo banging on the door of Notre Dame, holding a limp, streaming Esmerelda in his arms? No? I did. And so I say kudos to the New Sanctuary Movement. Not only for doing an obviously good thing, but for bringing a bit of romance into the church.
"Recalling a movement that challenged United States policy in Central America in the 1980s, several religious congregations in New York and other cities will announce a campaign Wednesday to provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants who face deportation.
As of Tuesday, the organizers of what is being called the New Sanctuary Movement said that five churches in New York City had already offered assistance to two families — one from China and one from Haiti — and would provide them with shelter if the federal government moved to enforce the deportation orders filed against them.
“We’re launching now because we’re fed up with detentions, deportations and raids,” said the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, the senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. “We felt it was not morally possible to remain silent.”
Dr. Schaper and a half-dozen other religious leaders are scheduled to gather this morning at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, a Roman Catholic parish at 405 West 59th Street, near Columbus Avenue, to announce their participation in the campaign.
Other announcements about the New Sanctuary Movement are scheduled in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle, and the organizers said that prayer vigils supporting the effort would be held in other cities.
The campaign comes as Congress and the Bush administration wrangle over immigration reform. President Bush and many Democrats have called for a path to legalize some 12 million illegal immigrants, but a significant number of Republicans in Congress advocate a broader campaign of deportations.
“We don’t expect any easy answers, but we believe the moral issues have to be lifted up,” said the Rev. David Rommerein, the pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Brooklyn, which has been debating how it can help the campaign.
Juan Carlos Ruiz, one of three national coordinators of the New Sanctuary Movement, said one inspiration for the project was the case of Elvira Arellano, a Mexican woman who came to the United States illegally in the 1990s and who has been living under sanctuary at a Chicago church since August..."
That was just a blog-sized taste. To see more, visit http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/content/news/2007/05/congregations_to_give_haven_to.html, then follow the link at the bottom of the page to the NY Times page with the full article.
Did anyone read this article and see Quasimodo banging on the door of Notre Dame, holding a limp, streaming Esmerelda in his arms? No? I did. And so I say kudos to the New Sanctuary Movement. Not only for doing an obviously good thing, but for bringing a bit of romance into the church.
posted by Briana Kramer @ 12:00 PM
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