Immigration reform must protect human dignity, say California bishops

Published: 2006-03-22

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CNS) -- Saying that the current immigration situation in the U.S. serves neither immigrants nor the general public, California's Catholic bishops asked for immigration reform that protects human dignity and fosters the common good. They asked for bipartisan political efforts "to create a new immigration system which respects our common humanity." The two-page statement was issued March 21 by the California Catholic Conference in Sacramento. It is the public policy arm of the 14 California dioceses. The following day, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles defended his decision to instruct his priests to disobey any future law that would criminally penalize them for aiding illegal immigrants. "I stand by my statement," he said in a March 22 opinion piece in The New York Times. But this does not mean he supports illegal immigration, he said. "What the church supports is an overhaul of the immigration system so that legal status and legal channels for migration replace illegal status and illegal immigration," he said.

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