Kansas City, Mo., May 18, 2011 / 03:57 am
A dispute between two Catholic authors on immigration is revealing deep divides within the U.S. Church. An advocate of the U.S. bishops' position says that anti-immigrant attitudes will weaken and divide both the Church and the pro-life movement.
“The strongest pro-life witness is love,” said Jack Smith, editor of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph's Catholic Key newspaper. “Those who show their love to women in crisis pregnancies when no one else does are the people who change hearts and save lives. It certainly doesn't augment that witness of love to have the same people turn ugly on immigrants,” he told CNA on May 16.
Smith has taken a public stand for the bishops' position on immigration, against Crisis Magazine contributor John Zmirak. A writer in residence at Thomas More College, Zmirak opposes illegal immigrant workers being given the “path to citizenship” that the U.S. bishops support.
In a May 12 essay for Crisis Magazine, entitled “Amnesty Equals Abortion,” Zmirak complained that these workers, if granted citizenship, would vote for Democratic Party candidates and torpedo the pro-life movement. Elsewhere, Zmirak has dismissed Bl. John Paul II's comparison of illegal immigrants and unborn children as “absurd,” a “non sequitur,” and “not Pope John Paul's finest hour.”