We, the undersigned members of the U.S. Provincial Council of the Clerics of St Viator, feel the need to respond to the recent changes to U.S. Immigration Law and Policy and to the mass deportations happening across the country. Basic to our mission of bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ “to those who are accounted of little importance in our world” is our defense of those in our society who are the most vulnerable and defenseless.
We uphold the belief that all people are conceived with inherent dignity, reflecting the image of God, and that this dignity is not dependent on a person’s citizenship or immigration status. At the same time, we recognize the need for just immigration enforcement and affirm the government’s obligation to carry it out in a targeted, proportional, and humane way.
Nevertheless, as Pope Francis has recently written, “mass deportation damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.” With the Pope we reject any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the undocumented status of migrants who have committed no crimes with criminality. With him we also affirm that “The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”
Therefore, guided by our commitment to those most vulnerable, we urge the United States government to develop an immigration system that not only secures our borders, but one which protects the dignity of all immigrants and refugees who are our brothers and sisters.
The Provincial Council of the Clerics of St. Viator, Chicago Province
Rev. Mark R Francis, CSV, Provincial
Rev. Richard A. Rinn, CSV
Rev. Thomas R. von Behren, CSV
Rev. Edgar O. Suarez, CSV
Br. Michael T. Gosch, CSV
February 24, 2025
