Knights leader urges letting Christian love guide immigration policy

Published: 2006-04-25

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) -- Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson of the Knights of Columbus in a newspaper commentary urged Americans to let "the light of Christian love" guide efforts to amend the U.S. immigration policy. In a column that appeared in the April 23-29 edition of the National Catholic Register, a weekly newspaper based in North Haven, Anderson observed that the Knights of Columbus was founded by immigrants and their sons, who "struggled long and hard to demonstrate to those who feared and hated us that we were just as fervent about being patriotic Americans as they were." The column appeared as the U.S. Senate prepared to resume consideration of immigration legislation, and advocacy groups around the country planned more efforts to rally immigrants. "If any group within American society ought to be able to weigh the issue with charity and understanding, it is the Catholic community," Anderson said. "Although nearly every American can trace his lineage to immigrants who came here from somewhere else, Catholics bore the brunt of some especially virulent nativist resistance to their arrival, which began early in the 19th century and continued well into the 20th."

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