On April 27, North Carolina Bishops Peter Jugis and Luis Zarama issued a joint letter addressing the nation’s immigration problems. We agree with their efforts to highlight the dignity of each person regardless of background. Recognizing this is the first step towards building a culture of life.
However, the bishops’ policy suggestions seem to be a more secular approach to a spiritually rooted problem.
Respectfully, experience has shown a solution will not come from Washington, D.C., as the bishops suggest. Rather, it will come from local communities as national politics flows from local culture and morality. Therefore, we propose an alternate solution: Since abortion devalues the family and human dignity – the root of our problems – why not enlist Latino immigrants to engage in the defense of life and morality?
Engaging Latinos to fight the root of our crisis – legalized abortion and contraception – will result in a better spiritual vision for America that will guide us in crafting just immigration policies. Their fervent faith is just what our culture needs.
The apostles didn’t wait for Roman citizenship to evangelize the gospel and convert souls, and neither should immigrants. Rather than wait for a law that never comes, our bishops should inspire them to live up to their collective vocation and build a culture of life.
After all, if they succeed in saving our country from these moral evils, it is probable that changes in immigration legislation will follow suit. Through prayer and action, we can build a culture of life.
Michael FitzGerald, Tammy Harris, Andrea Hines, Bill Lamay and Tina Witt are members of the Catholic Pro-Life Action Network of Charlotte (C-PLAN).