A Christian View of Illegal Immigration

Here is an interesting article on the illegal immigration printed in the Lansing State Journal about the fine line a Chicago priest must walk when serving him Latino parish.

The article, entitled “Pastor walks a tightrope over topic of immigration,” was written by Margaret Ramirez and Andrew L. Wang and published on August 11, 2007.

Ramirez and Wang write:

As pastor for more than 5,000 families, most of them Latino, at three parishes in Waukegan and North Chicago, [Rev. Gary] Graf is a central figure in the lives of the immigrants who are transforming this city and its Catholic churches.

But his role as a spiritual leader also has placed Graf at the center of the nation's volatile debate over controlling illegal immigration, a battle that flared this summer after Waukegan sought to give local police the power to deport immigrants accused of serious crimes.
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The article does a good job depicting how Rev. Graf serves his community in the spirit of Christ without compromising his commitment to truth. At one point, Ramirez and Wang quote Graf as saying, “Through all this is what Jesus said: 'You love the sinner but hate the sin,’…”

While this paraphrase refers to Jesus’s stance towards all of us, it does not match any one of his sayings closely enough to garner qualification for the Amy Writing Awards.

The article is a good one, however, and it challenges us to consider how Christ would address the illegal immigration issue. Rev. Graf’s noble work in Chicago gives us one indication.