Immigration tapped as topic for Newman Center discussion

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Bishop John C. Wester made the final presentation of the year for the Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center’s Theology on Tap program.

SALT LAKE CITY – Young adults gathered at the Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center to share beer and deep thoughts Nov. 11 during the last Theology on Tap session of the year. The Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, was the presenter; his topic was immigration.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament call for Catholics to reach out to strangers in their midst, Bishop Wester pointed out, and for the Catholic Church the issue of immigration is a moral, human and spiritual issue, not just a political one. "The Church needs to be involved because it’s an application of Church teaching," he said. "We’re not just talking about laws, we’re talking about human beings and how laws affect human beings."

While the Church doesn’t advocate breaking the law, existing immigration law isn’t just, he said. "The system isn’t working," he said, pointing out that in the last 10 years the United States government has added 80 miles of fence and spent about $100 billion to repel undocumented immigrants, whose numbers jumped from 7 million to 11.5 million in that period.

The Catholic Church’s position is that immigration reform should address the root causes of migration, provide for an earned path to citizenship that gives priority to uniting families, increase the number of temporary worker visas and give immigration judges back the authority to expeditiously adjudicate cases, he said.

The bishop urged the Newman Center group to educate themselves on the issue, to be a voice for immigrants, to advocate for immigration reform by letting legislative representatives know how they feel and to challenge in conversation people who oppose immigration reform.