Welcome illegal immigrants, head of Catholic University says at Mass

Published: 2006-05-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- At a Mass concelebrated by eight U.S. cardinals, the head of The Catholic University of America asked Catholics to welcome illegal immigrants. Christ was not excluding anyone when he said, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me," said Vincentian Father David M. O'Connell, president of the university in Washington. Christ "was speaking for everyone, not only for those within our borders but for those who cross them, no matter how they got here," he said during the homily at the afternoon Mass April 28 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. "He is asking us to be that kind of salt and light for the world, the kind that welcomes people home," said Father O'Connell. Earlier in the day several cardinals visited key Bush administration and congressional officials to push for an immigration reform bill that deals compassionately with the country's illegal immigrants.

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