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The Executive Committee of FCM condemns the Administration’s freely chosen action to separate thousands of children from their parents who are seeking asylum at the southern border of the United States. This must stop immediately.
Child care professionals believe the damage to these children is significant and possibly permanent. We have a moral obligation to speak out not only for the children but because our value system as Christ-believers and citizens of the USA is at stake. To quote Edmond Burke “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” We must act now. We call for FCM members each Tuesday to conduct a day of fasting and prayer until this horror, perpetrated by our government, justified by a twisted biblical reference and supported by lies as to its causation, ends. We state our belief with St. Paul as follows: “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. … Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom 13.8, 10) We call for this prescription to be followed in our interactions with all people. Please reach out to your elected representatives and write directly to President Trump. Demand this use of separation-terror stop. Tom Stricker, Chairperson Thomas Cusack, President William Appleton, Secretary Heidi Tierney, Treasurer Dear Ones,
I was truly appalled when I saw Attorney General Jeff Sessions publicly quote St. Paul’s letter to Romans, “Let every person be subordinate to higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God” (NAB 1:13) in his effort to condone his recent policy to immediately separate young children from their immigrant parents seeking political asylum at the southern border of the United Sates. In good conscience as a— mother, grandmother, citizen, teacher, priest—I cannot remain silent to such an egregious abuse of both political power and sacred scripture towards the treatment of innocent children. Regardless of political affiliations, collectively as citizens of this nation, it is “we the people” who are ultimately entrusted with the responsibility of governmental oversight in a democratic nation. Clearly Sessions, and by extension the current administration, is extracting a biblical passage out of context to justify an unjustifiable position regarding the teaching of Jesus. This is an erroneous attempt to both appease religious conservatism and profligate the administration’s misconduct and abhorrent practice of using children as pawns for the specific and intentional purpose of dissuading immigrate parents from seeking political asylum in the United States and crossing our southern border with Mexico. This passage in Romans is a letter, and as is true with any letter, the beginning sentence is the introduction to the topic NOT the conclusive point of the topic. You see, if Mr. Sessions was truly desiring to reflect Jesus’ message and not is own prejudicial thinking, out of necessity he would have had to quote verses eight and ten. These are the verses that state the fulfillment of the law, the authoritative position of God in Paul’s letter to which verse one only initiates. The fulfillment of the Law is this, “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. …Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law” (13: 8, 10). In addition, today I heard White House press secretary and spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders make a vague reference to laws contained in scripture in order to justify the Trump administration’s anti-immigration tactic to separate children from their parents. This is an unacceptable line that has been crossed. The abrupt removal of a young child from his or her parent has severe, traumatic and life-long consequences according to health care professionals. As a mother who raised two sons, it is a gut-wrenching atrocity in a civilized country. I am asking you to not remain silent or be passively aggrieved regarding this current action by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). Act now. Write or phone your congressional representatives, join local protest groups and demonstrate, seek the facts—do not listen to sound bites and empty political rhetoric. If you are tired of the voices of television pundits, stop listening; instead, rest, pray, find gratitude and give thanks, then carry the Spirit of the Living God within you, and carry on as an advocate for the voiceless. Do not allow yourself to be pulled into complacency by the naysayers! In closing I must humbly remind myself and share this gentle reminder with the majority of those to whom I write: there was never anything we did individually to have the great fortune to be born and raised in this prosperous and wealthy nation where, with our first breath, we immediately acquired citizenship: it was purely and simply a glorious opportunity afforded us by others, namely our parents. Let us give thanks for them and all that historically unfolded on our behalf. May this gift given helps us remain generous and compassionate towards others, to live life with gospel justice for others, and to remain active in our citizenship on behalf of the common good to assure the privilege, practice, and continuance of a free and democratic nation. Check out this link for future activities--"Families Belong Together” https://familiesbelong.org/# Please feel to write me and let me know what local organizations you are working with. In loving service, Maureen |
AuthorBlogs are posted by FCM and written by FCM members. The contents are the sentiments of the author of the post and not necessarily the FCM Community. Archives
April 2024
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