Dear Parishioners and Friends:

 
I write this on Thursday the 14th of June, a day when here at Blessed Sacrament I witnessed the “Stepping up” ceremonies of the Pre-K3 and Pre-K4 classes of our parish school. As I did so, I could not stop thinking of the picture I had just seen of a little girl, caught between her mother and a police car…..her mother’s arms were extend and she was being frisked……she had crossed the boarder, seeking asylum.
 
All across the country, today, Thursday, people are gathering to protest the breakup of families and the traumatic treatment of children by the present government of the United States.
 
I read these words of Rabbi Arthur Waskow, and would like to share them with you. (Torah is the “Pentateuch”, the first five Books of the Hebrew Scriptures [the Old Testament}
 
“What might anyone who takes the Hebrew Bible either as sacred or as a serious spiritual text say in addressing this question?   Torah speaks directly to the plight of  refugees: "You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within your gates, wherever it seems best to him; you shall not maltreat him.”   (Deuteronomy 23: 15-16)
 
Says the Attorney-General of the United States: “Generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by nongovernmental actors will not qualify for asylum.”  “If people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. We've got to get this message out. You're not given immunity. You have to, you will be prosecuted, if you come illegally. And if you bring children, you'll still be prosecuted."  (Jefferson Beauregard Sessions)
 
The result of this policy, as described in a single case by the New Yorker. (There are now hundreds of these cases.)  “Jose, a five-year-old Honduran boy, was taken away from his father by immigration officials last month, after the two of them had crossed the border at El Paso. The father was transferred to a detention camp. Jose, all alone, was put on a plane to Michigan and placed under the care of a family of kind but anguished strangers. In his bedroom at night, he clings to pictures that he’s drawn of his family—his mother and siblings in Honduras, with its epidemic of gang violence, and his father in a U.S. prison. He won’t stop asking, “When will I see my papa?”
 
Attorney-General Sessions describes himself as a serious Christian.  His religious faith and obligation sit ill with his decision to deny asylum to parents who are in urgent danger of murder of themselves and their children if they are forced back to the homes they are fleeing.   Not that his task is to obey the Bible if it conflicts with US law and the Constitution; but where the law gives him discretion to define refugee status, we might hope he would draw on the clear teaching by God and his faith.
 
We might call this to the attention of his down-home folks in Alabama and to his church in Washington DC
 And whether he draws on the Bible in this matter or not, we should. In our own houses of worship or celebration, in letters to our Members of Congress and Senators and to the editors of our newspapers. At an ICE office. We should.
 
On this same subject, the Bishops of the United States have stated:
“At its core, asylum is an instrument to preserve the right to life. The Attorney General's recent decision elicits deep concern because it potentially strips asylum from many women who lack adequate protection. These vulnerable women will now face return to the extreme dangers of domestic violence in their home country. This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence. Unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives, particularly in cases that involve asylum seekers who are persecuted by private actors. We urge courts and policy makers to respect and enhance, not erode, the potential of our asylum system to preserve and protect the right to life.
 
Additionally, I join Bishop Joe Vásquez, Chairman of USCCB's Committee on Migration, in condemning the continued use of family separation at the U.S./Mexico border as an implementation of the Administration's zero tolerance policy. Our government has the discretion in our laws to ensure that young children are not separated from their parents and exposed to irreparable harm and trauma. Families are the foundational element of our society and they must be able to stay together. While protecting our borders is important, we can and must do better as a government, and as a society, to find other ways to ensure that safety. Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral."
 
Thank you to all those who participated in our music ministry throughout the year, in particular the 10am Children’s Choir, and the 12:30 and 5:30 Sunday Choirs. During the summer we will be having organ/piano and cantor at our weekend Masses, and for those interested, the 5:30pm Sunday Choir will continue. 
 
On Tuesday the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Romauld. Romauld born in 10th Century Italy, led a wild life as a young person, but that all changed when, at age 20, he saw his father murder another man. Romauld, horrified by his father’s crime, fled to a Benedictine Monastery to repent for his father’s sin. Romauld would go on to establish the Camaldolese Order, which combined a communal way of life with a stricter eremitical (hermit) way of life, still lived by some Religious through the world today.
 
On Thursday the Church celebrates St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who, at a young age, renounced his inheritance to join the Society of Jesus. Aloysius excelled as a student and was known for his rigor, which his spiritual director, St. Robert Bellarmine, sought to temper. While working in a hospital as a seminarian, Aloysius contracted a plague and subsequently died. He is hailed as a model for young people today.
 
On Saturday we honor three saints along with our Blessed Mother. St. Paulinus of Nola (354-431), along with his wife after the death of their young son, began a way of life based on monasticism and charitable outreach. He was eventually appointed Bishop of Nola in Italy. Saint John Fisher (1469-1535) and St. Thomas More (1478-1535) both lived during the upheaval of the English Reformation. Both were friends of King Henry VIII, dubbed the Defender of the Faith for his defense of Catholicism in the wake of Martin Luther’s Reformation. Henry would later break from the Church, and many Catholics, including More and Fisher, were caught up in this turmoil. Both men were martyred by Henry and are honored for their faithfulness.         
 
As always, let us continue to pray for peace.
 
Father Duffell