Cardinal challenges Hispanic youths to help new immigrants

Published: 2006-06-13

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) -- A Honduran cardinal stressed the contributions of Hispanics to U.S. society and challenged young Hispanics to respond to the plight of newly arriving immigrants. "How interesting that at a time when the doors to free trade are being opened that the international borders are being closed to immigrants," said Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The cardinal was one of the keynote speakers at the June 8-11 National Encuentro for Hispanic Youth and Young Adult Ministry at the University of Notre Dame. Cardinal Rodriguez said June 10, "We can't allow ourselves to forget that in the face of every immigrant there is a history." It is a history complicated by the humiliation and family disintegration suffered by those who choose to migrate to the United States, he said in Spanish. "They haven't come with the intention of taking jobs away from anyone, nor their way of making a living," he said to cheers and applause. "For this reason, they can't be called bad, usurpers or criminals."

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