Evangelizers must heed God's call to reach out to all, says cardinal

Published: 2006-07-26

CINCINNATI (CNS) -- Saying that a plan to build a fence along the United States' southern border goes against God's call to reach out to all peoples, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, asked that citizens and leaders in the U.S. avoid the pitfalls of xenophobia "and the tragedy of Babel." Cardinal Rodriguez, who gave the keynote address at the North American Institute for Catholic Evangelization in Xavier University's Cintas Center July 12, underscored the need for all of the faithful to embrace the institute's theme, "Evangelizing God's People in a Culture of Diversity." The July 12-15 institute was sponsored by the university; the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and its Office of Evangelization and Catechesis; and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Evangelization and its U.S. Commission on Catholic Evangelization. The Bible story of the tower of Babel, symbolizing humanity's rebellion against God, "repeats itself many times in our society," Cardinal Rodriguez told an estimated 300 participants who had come from around the globe for the institute.

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