•Churches: Worshippers in hiding
Churches: Worshippers in hiding
By Carla Hinton
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Published: October 30, 2007
When the Rev. Leonel Blanco looks out into the pews of his south Oklahoma City church on Sundays, he sees only half the number of his predominantly Hispanic congregation.
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House Bill 1804
What does it say? HB 1804 makes it criminal to transport, hire, harbor, house or conceal illegal immigrants. It also requires local law enforcement agencies to check immigration status. The law will effectively end state-sponsored benefits for those who can't prove they are legally in the U.S.
What's ahead? The law takes effect Thursday, but the legal fight continues. An Interfaith Vigil of Prayer and Solidarity for Undocumented Persons is planned for 6 to 6:45 p.m. Thursday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2706 S Shartel.
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‘A higher law' cited
The Rev. Anthony Taylor, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2706 S Shartel, said he considers the reform law to be sinful because it proposes to take away what he considers a God-given right of human dignity.
"People have a right to immigrate where circumstances so require. They do so as their God-given right,” he said.
Obeying the law is tantamount to sin, since "there's a higher law than civil law. We need to treat everyone with human dignity.”
The Rev. Michael Chapman, pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church, 317 N Blackwelder, expressed similar sentiments.
"Illegality is not as important as the dignity of that (immigrant) family — you have the right to migrate to feed your family,” he said.
Blanco said some Hispanic immigrants believe they are losing the right to move freely because of an increase in racial profiling by the police.
"They are not terrorists,” Blanco said. "This discriminates. It seems to me like it's bringing the Ku Klux Klan again.”
Blanco and Chapman said most undocumented immigrants are hardworking and don't deserve to be shoved out of Oklahoma. Many, they said, want to work to feed their families and often send money back to their native land to support relatives.
"You don't see Latinos on the streets asking for money. They are working,” said Blanco. "We are demonstrating that we have a lot of dignity.”
Rex Friend, a Quaker and immigration law attorney, said according to his religious doctrine, HB1804 represents "harsh and cruel punishment of our brothers who had the happenstance to be born somewhere else.”
Terrill said the religious leaders don't understand the law.
"They dangerously confuse the concept of personhood and citizenship,” he said.
"I'm a conservative pro-life Republican. I believe you are a person at conception. While personhood comes with basic rights — the biggest is right to life — I believe that is an entirely different concept than being a U.S. citizen which occurs when you are born in the U.S. and with that citizenship, comes certain rights. There is no constitutional right for an unlawfully present foreign national to receive anything at taxpayer expense.”
Obeying whose authority?
By the clergymen's interpretation of the law, they will run the risk of becoming felons should they come to the aid of an illegal immigrant. However, each of them said the legislation will not change the way they serve their congregations.
"There's a higher law than civil law,” said Taylor, who leads the largest predominantly Hispanic congregation in the Oklahoma City Archdiocese.
He said based on this divine premise, the law may be met with civil disobedience akin to the 1960s civil rights movement.
"When it's a matter of justice, there's no question about it,” he said. "We're solidly on the side of the people whose rights are being violated.”
Chapman said the archdiocese's council of priests placed its support behind a "pledge of resistance” as a way to civilly express opposition to the law. The pledge, written by Friend and the Rev. Lance Schmitz, minister of social justice at Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene, was presented to Gov. Brad Henry's office Friday on behalf of Archbishop Eusebius Beltran and the priests' council.
Chapman said immigration reform is so emotionally charged that the priests who signed the pledge hoped it would cause everyone to consider all the law's implications.
"Making a statement at this time is a way for us to stand up and kind of like they are doing in California, putting water on the fire and calming people down,” he said.
Blanco, whose congregation at 2141 SW 25 has gone from about 300 to 125, said he has told immigrants not to leave the state out of fear. He said the doors of his church remain open and he will continue to help those in need.
Terrill said he thinks the religious leaders are well-intentioned in their concerns. He said to break the law, a person would have to knowingly transport, hire, harbor, house or conceal illegal immigrants and demonstrate reckless disregard for the law with some underlying commercial or financial gain at stake.
"If there's something that is purely religious, educational, charitable in nature or other humanitarian purpose, then that would not be included.”
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U.S. State Government, U.S. Government, Culture and Lifestyle, Domestic Policy, Social Policy, Political Policy, Politics, Social Issues, Religion, Christianity, Immigration Policy, Roman Catholicism, Immigration
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other buisness.and looking at the track record,possibly, in 10-20 years we will be hearing about sex abuse lawsuits.