The following story first appeared in the Winter 2006 Glenmary Challenge.
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Our Call: To Welcome the Stranger
Responding to every immigrant just as we would Jesus, Mary and Joseph
by Father Dan Dorsey

HOLY FAMILY AT REST: Sculpture in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

At the east entrance to the crypt of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., stands a sculpture of the Holy Family resting from their flight into Egypt. It speaks to me of the struggle of Mary and Joseph, against great obstacles, to foster family life and preserve their faith in a loving and merciful God. Their fatigue and weariness are poignantly captured. Looking at it, I can feel their exhaustion and the toll the journey has exacted. And now they face an uncertain future in a foreign and strange land.

The sculpture (“The Holy Family at Rest—the Flight Into Egypt,” by Anna Hyatt Huntington) comes to mind as I reflect on Christmas in light of our country’s intense debate around the issue of immigration and the place of illegal immigrants within our society. What is the faith response to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States?

In the Gospel of St. Matthew we are called to “welcome the stranger,” and we are reminded, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (25:35, 40). As Catholic missioners, Glenmarians see immigration not so much as a political issue but as a fundamental human and moral issue. We bring to this discussion our faith, our morals and our experience.

In his powerful encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that Jesus calls us to expand who we see as neighbor. Citing the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Holy Father says that the term neighbor can no longer be limited to “the closely knit community of a single country or people. This limit is now abolished. Anyone who needs me, and whom I can help, is my neighbor…. ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40). Love of God and love of neighbor have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God” (par. 15).

These 11 million illegal immigrants certainly need help and, as Benedict XVI emphasizes, that makes them our neighbors due the same kind of loving assistance given by the Good Samaritan to the man alongside the road.

While Glenmary does not support or encourage illegal immigration, we do advocate for a legislative change that would allow persons to enter the United States legally in order to work and support their families.

It may surprise you to learn that the vast majority of immigrants that Glenmary missioners encounter have no legal avenue open to them for entering our country.

It may also surprise you that, until fairly recently, there was no distinction made about whether someone arrived legally or not. Before 1925 pretty much anyone who showed up at a port of entry or walked across a border was allowed to stay in the United States. The belief that “my ancestors followed the law when they came here” may not be accurate because there were no immigration laws when most of our ancestors came to the United States.

As Glenmary missioners we are called to welcome all with open arms just as we would the Holy Family portrayed in the Basilica’s sculpture. It is our privilege to serve the forgotten, the neglected, the stranger—to offer a cup of water, a place to rest and the nourishment of the sacraments.
I hope we will never fail to respond to that call.