By Gretchen Keiser

Rev. John Storey, the 36-year-old pastor of Clifton Presbyterian Church, has 26 members listed on the church’s active roles. By contrast, each night for the last six years, Clifton Presbyterian has given shelter to 30 homeless Atlanta men.

He shrugs off the observation that the church has been caring for more people nightly than the total of its own active membership. Clifton Presbyterian’s nightly hospitality is supported by many friends and volunteers, he says, who work with the homeless in Atlanta.

But he does believe that the decision to become a public sanctuary for Central American refugees arose, in part, out of that ministry to homeless in Atlanta.

The declaration of sanctuary is “a direct outgrowth of two things for us, I believe,” he said. “One is that ongoing experience of offering to homeless people and the other is the concerns that have grown over the past few years about the people of Central America. For me, it’s directly related to Oscar Romero -- his assassination -- and that of the four women religious.” He referred to the murders of American churchwomen in El Salvador in December 1980.

There have been critics of the sanctuary movement, even within churches, who express concern that it is more political than Christian, perhaps extending hospitality only to those who will express opposition to the U.S. policy in Central America.

But Storey, who is married and the father of a young son, said that he and his wife had sheltered a Nicaraguan man who “had worked for an organization connected with Somoza,” the right-wing dictator overthrown in the Sandinista revolution. The man fled Nicaragua after the revolution and the slaying of his boss by a Neighborhood Defense Committee; he made his way to Florida where he was denied political asylum, Storey said, then came to Georgia.

“He is a wonderful young man that I love and keep in touch with and I praise God that he is in Toronto now,” he continued. While they were together, they talked politics many times and did not see eye to eye, Storey said. “But it was a very important lesson to me. Whatever my politics are, when it comes to people --flesh and blood -- politics goes by the board. It’s helping your neighbor.”

Clifton Presbyterian began helping Central American refugees quietly in 1983, after a period of Bible study and reflection, he said. They then began to consider becoming a publicly declared sanctuary, which means that they may, in the future, house refugees who will come forward and speak about their experiences in their homeland and their need for refuge in the United States. Whether or not Clifton receives refugees who want to make public statements, they will continue to help refugees who do not want to be publicly identified and will do so regardless of political question, Storey said.

“It’s an act of mercy,” he said. “It’s a political act because our government makes it a political act.”

He pointed out that political asylum is already extended to many nationalities by the U.S., but not, except in unusual cases, to Central Americans.

He said he believes the “fruit” of the sanctuary movement eventually will be that the “North American public is going to force the Department of Justice and INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) to stop sending people back to chaos around the world.”

As the sanctuary movement has spread, there have been questions raised by the government and others about whether or not Salvadorans really face death if they are deported home. Storey pointed out that a study by the American Civil Liberties Union, which was limited, showed that over 100 who had been deported were harmed and 52 had been killed.

“What if one of those is the person who came to me for help and was turned down and was deported and wound up dead on a road,” he said vehemently. “I’m not willing as long as there’s the possibility that one person will be killed.”