Thomas Wenski, the Archbishop of Miami, used his homily at the Migration Mass at Miami’s St Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday to call on Congress to enact legislation to enable the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living and working in the United States to continue to do so legally.
“The church in the United States continues to call for a just and comprehensive immigration reform,” Wenski declared. “We call on Congress to pass immigration reform for the 11 million immigrants living here in irregular form.” The cultural diversity of South Florida immigrants was honored by the mass, which lasted an hour, during which Jesus, Mary and Joseph were compared by the archbishop to the immigrants.
“The son of God is an immigrant from heaven who came here to live among us,” Wenski claims. “This is a church without frontiers. We are all one family under God.” He continued: “Jesus’s family spent time as refugees. How can we then not see Jesus in the face of migrants and refugees?”
Wenski, who has supported immigration reform for many years, urged people to think about the necessity of helping refugees and immigrants, saying that the teachings of the church encourage people not to afraid of immigrants and to treat them well. Late last year an executive order was issued by President Obama to give temporary legal status to up to five million undocumented immigrants and to protect them from deportation.