Immigration is seen by many as one of the most controversial and dividing issues facing the nation.
At the seventh annual Lynch School of Education Symposium on Education and Immigration Thursday, Rev. Richard J. Ryscavage, S.J, professor of sociology and international studies at Fairfield University, addressed some key concerns surrounding these issues that also pertained to Catholicism. In addition to the discussions, four seniors from the Lynch School of Education also honored elementary and high school teachers who have inspired them to pursue teaching.
"It is important for Catholics and non-Catholics to understand the roots of the Catholic position on immigration," said Ryscavage. He said that the issue of immigration divides Catholics just as much as it divides any U.S. citizens.
He posed the question: "Why does the church pay so much attention to immigrants and refugees?" Ryscavage said that there were various answers. "Migrants are victims and the church must side with them, but the issue is much deeper than that."
"While politicians often say immigrants are the foundation and growth of the church, it doesn't explain why the church responds in this way in other parts of the world," said Ryscavage. "It is true that many immigrants in the U.S. are Roman Catholic, but it is true that migrants have had a long history with the church. It was for immigrants that schools and this University were established. Pastoral behavior can only be explained through faith, not politics."
He explained how the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all share and trace their linage to Abraham, and the story of Abraham is about "God telling Abraham to migrate."
"God meets his people through migration; to meet God you must migrate," said Ryscavage. "In finding faith one has to journey or migrate. St. Thomas Aquinas saw the world in a modern way, in which the world should never be our home, but the city of God our home. All Christians are pilgrims, we are all aliens."
Ryscavage said that people should find a permanent home in the church, regardless of what countries they live in or have migrated from.
"The church is trying to remind people that no matter how you re-anchor into a new culture or language it will, and should, never feel permanent," he said. "The legal status of citizenship is quite irrelevant when you view the issue through the lens of faith."
He said that each pope has built up the theory of immigration for the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II, according to Ryscavage, devoted the most attention to the issue by giving more than 70 speeches on the subject. Among John Paul's contributions, Ryscavage cited the late-pope's calls to broaden the legal definition of an immigrant and to increase protections for immigrants to cover individuals displaced in their own country.
"The church's position is a religious and spiritual position, where the primary message is not about law, but about the migrant as a human person and how they should come to meet God," he said.
Daniel Kanstroom, a Boston College law professor who was also a speaker, called the issue of immigration "the major civil rights issue" of our time."
"Our country is deeply divided," he said, "and there is question of how reasonable minds differ," he said.
Kanstroom quoted parts of President George W. Bush's law to build a border fence across parts of the California-Mexico border, enacted earlier that day. He also said that in 2004, 1.2 million aliens were deported.
Kanstroom's concern about immigration as a civil rights issue was that immigrants are not read Miranda rights, cannot hire lawyers after the case, and have no right to trial by jury. He said that it is an issue that needs to be looked at closely. "The Catholic Church offers a strong moral ground by which we could continue to face these questions," he said.
Iris Gomez, an attorney who has directed the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute's immigration work, directed her response to the ways in which she believes Massachusetts excludes immigrant youth in the education system, particularly in college. Gomez said among some of the barriers for high-achieving immigrant youth were required out-of-state tuition even for students who have been living in Massachusetts most of their lives.
She also said that immigrants who can be "eligible non-citizens" miss information by university admissions staff because they lack social security numbers. "We need a legislative and leadership change for the future of migrants," she said. "I am proposing to legalize the status of people who have been here for a long time and have followed the rules and a call for greater education and training for admissions staff about what the real barriers are."
Whether through faith-based reasoning, interpretation of law and civil liberties, or examination of a need for higher education, panelists each issued a call to conscience in the dealing with education and immigration.
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