San Bernardino Diocese Bishop Alberto Rojas released a statement in late June condemning ICE activity in San Bernardino County and excusing parishioners from further Sunday Masses amid fear of illegal raids and deportation, accusing it is “not of the Gospel.”
Diocesan officials said ICE agents entered two Catholic parish properties in Montclair and Highland on June 20, and detained multiple people in the parking lot of St. Adelaide Church in Highland who were neither employees of the parish nor parishioners, The Press-Enterprise reported.
Agents also took one male parishioner into custody at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Montclair that same afternoon.
“Authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately, without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God,” Bishop Rojas said in a statement.
Rojas leads the sixth largest Catholic diocese in the U.S., which includes communities in both San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
The San Bernardino Diocese stands with the immigrant communities, the bishop continued, and those who are bearing the “trauma” and “injustice” of the ICE tactics.
“We join you in carrying this very difficult cross,” he said.
The diocese stated that they respect the right of law enforcement to keep communities safe from violent criminals, but do not support recent tactics to detain people as they leave their homes, places of work and other public settings.
Rojas asks all political leaders and decision-makers to reconsider and cease these methods immediately in his written statement and instead employ an approach that “respects human rights.”
Additionally, he condoned parishioners’ right to protest but asks that they act without vulgarity, violence toward others or destruction of property.
“Our late Holy Father, Pope Francis, once told me that his greatest fear was division,” Rojas ended in his statement. “Indeed, it is painful to see such division amongst God’s people at this moment. This is not what He wants for us. Let us instead remember what we all share – our creation in His image and likeness. Let us look for God in one another.”
McKenna is a reporter for the Daily Press. She can be reached at mmobley@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: San Bernardino Diocese bishop excuses parishioners from Sunday Mass as ICE raids stoke fear
Reporting by McKenna Mobley, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
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