.- During
a forum on international immigration, Archbishop Jose Gomez of San
Antonio said the United States is a country built on immigration and
that Christians should respond to this challenge in accord with the
teaching of Christ: I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
During the
forum, which was organized by Mexico’s Secretariat for Foreign
Relations and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Archbishop
Gomez noted the economic, social and cultural contributions of
immigrants to their new countries.
In the case of
the United States, the archbishop said according to the 2002 census,
Hispanic immigrants number more than 37 million and represent 13.3% of
the US population. Of these, 66.9% are from Mexico; 14.3% are
from Central and South America; 8.6% are from Puerto Rico; 3.7% from
Cuba; and the remaining 6.5% from other Hispanic countries, including
Spain.
Emphasizing that
his objective was to present a pastoral perspective, Archbishop Gomez
recalled that the North American identity has been definitively marked
by the phenomenon of immigration. Nevertheless, he warned that
“today there is a more articulated, more organic, perhaps more
‘politically correct’ but more intellectually and politically
sophisticated ideological resistance (on the part of natives).”
“The most
significant expression of this prejudice is perhaps the book ‘Who We
Are’ by Samuel P. Huntington,” which Archbishop Gomez said carries
great weight among “the intellectual higher-ups of American political
parties,” and which claims that Hispanics, “if they maintain their
identity and continuing coming in the same numbers, ‘will destroy’ the
achievements of the United States, which are unique in the world in
terms of liberty and well being.”
Archbishop Gomez
said he was saddened that the issue is dividing Catholics in the
US. However, he recalled that the Catechism of the Catholic
Church teaches that “the more prosperous nations have the duty to
welcome, as much as possible, the foreigner who seeks security and a
means of living that he is unable to find in his country of origin.”
With respect to
illegal immigrants, Archbishop Gomez said granting them legal status
would bring economic benefits to the United States, as well as affirm
the moral reserve that Hispanics represent for the country. He also
argued it “would help to bring greater development and stability in
Latin America.”
He explained
that such steps would not be the end, but only the beginning of the
solution to the problem. “It is necessary to harmonize
immigration with the legitimate regulation which governments establish
regarding the arrival of foreigners,” he added.
Regarding the
role of Catholics, Archbishop Gomez said, “We must have the wisdom and
the strength to listen to the call of God to live as brothers and
sisters and to build a better world.”
Archbishop of San Antonio: United States was built by immigrants
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