Call your senators. Tell them to vote “no” on extending funding to ICE.
That was the message Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, NJ, issued to faithful Catholics. He spoke at a gathering of faith leaders to mourn the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, A National Faith Call to Action.
The National Faith Call to Action was a gathering of faith leaders to mourn the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Tobin asked “Father what can we do … when the machinery of death has been put in action?
“I think if we are serious about putting our faith in action, we need to say ‘no,’ each one of us,” Tobin said. He went on to say that part of saying “no” is to tell the truth about what happened and honor the lives that have been taken.
“One way that we say ‘no’ is that we mourn, we do not celebrate death, and we do not pretend it doesn’t happen. We say names. We pray for the dead. We mourn for a world, a country, that allows 5-year-olds to be kidnapped and protesters to be slaughtered.
“Everyday people from many faith communities go to Delaney Street here in Newark, and to the Elizabeth Detention Center, and they say ‘no’ by standing at the gates, by talking with the ICE personnel, by insisting on the rights of the detainees within. They bring them human comfort, they console the families of those who aren’t always admitted to see their loved ones.
“How will you say ‘no?’ How? How will you help restore a culture of life in the midst of death?
“How will you say no, in this week, when an appropriations bill is going to be considered in Congress?
“We ask — for the love of God and the love of human beings, which can’t be separated — vote against renewing funding for such a lawless organization.”
Several Catholic organizations and leaders have already swung into action, mobilizing supporters to contact Congress and urge them to vote against DHS funding, with some citing Tobin’s comments.
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