A Plea To My Church (because neutral is complicit)

Tonight, I am compelled to write to you to say that I am feeling deeply abandoned by the mostly neutral approach you are taking on the immigration, violence, and trauma that our government is committing in our state and all over the country right now.

I have been a member for 15 years. I have volunteered in the nursery since my kids were little. I have been a catechist in elementary faith formation classes for the last 8 years and in high school confirmation groups for 3. I served in leadership with MOPS for 3 years and was the Coordinator of our MOMSnext group for another 3 years. I have immersed myself in our church, raised my children here, and love my faith deeply. All three of my children attend faith formation and enjoy camp, core team, and retreats. They have formed deep friendships with other kids through their beautiful faith. I have loved this church as a second home for my family, and have given much of my time and money to our church.

Today, I went to church hoping for an outpouring of love to buffer the hammering hurt from the heartbreaking events over the past few weeks. I went to church expecting to be assured that God is holding all those who are being targeted and who are suffering in his hands. I needed to hear that we are united in that suffering. That we, as members of a faith based on bearing witness, defending life, and spreading peace, will not stand for this chaos, coercion, and deportation of people without cause or due process.

But that message never came. I left deflated, and wondering why a simple prayer and a quick line about the light were all that could be said. It left me wondering if my church didn’t actually care. Didn’t actually know the depth of what is happening. Or didn’t really think it was wrong.

I needed a clear statement condemning the actions that are clearly violating our Catholic call to extend dignity and mercy to immigrants and people seeking refuge. You are the leaders, and I need you to say this is wrong.

While I speak for myself, I have also been reached out to by friends at church asking the same questions. We are sickened and terrified, and we need you to speak to our souls. What is happening to our neighbors, our friends, our children, our children’s friends, and classmates, to our store owners, our teachers, our community, our state as a whole, goes against everything that Jesus teaches, and thus all that we have been taught by you.

We need to know that our church will stand together in unity against such wrongdoing.

As my heart breaks more with every death occurring in the streets of our state in the last few weeks, and the continued taking and deporting of men, women, and children from their homes and families, and often legal residence in this country, I run to my church for refuge. For guidance. For an actual light in the darkness. Not just a quick phrase about light. But the offering and provision of actual light! Words are light. Truth is light. Saying WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS is light. Anything less is dark and empty.

Please speak up. Please say more than one quick prayer, and a neutral comment about both sides being right. Both sides are not right. There is nothing right about our Immigration Control Enforcement agents prowling around the earth seeking the ruin of souls. They are after the souls that reside inside brown skin, specifically, but no soul, it seems, is unworthy of their violence. There is nothing right about a five-year-old being taken from his parents and deported to another country. There is nothing right about the fear and anxiety poisoning us all because of the masked men with guns following women in their cars, grabbing teenagers from their jobs, beating them, and dumping them blocks away. And there is nothing right about our politicians lying about it all. This is not a blip on the radar of unfortunate things that happen in the world. This is a thick blanket covering us with all that is wrong in the world. And that needs to be said in our church, very clearly, so that your parishioners know we are in a safe place. A place that is brave, and strong, and will stand up for all citizens, for all humans, especially, as the bible says, the weakest among us. A place that means what it has been saying all these years.

We need to know you will use your voice for good. Because what they are doing is not good. And staying neutral is being complicit. And I can’t belong to a church that is complicit in this extreme attack on dignity, freedom, humanity, peace, and life.  

As the Bishops of the United States special message says:

“To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering, since, when one member suffers, all suffer. (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26). You are not alone!”

They go on to say:

“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

This should be posted everywhere. This should be stated again and again. At least this, we need to hear. But so much more is possible.

So please, answer this one question: Will there be a clear message condemning the violence, deportation, and overall inhumane treatment happening to immigrants and legal citizens alike in our community?

It's very important for me to understand exactly where you, as priests and leaders of my church, stand on this. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Krissy Dieruf