"A God of Immigrants" – Arkansas Bishop Calls on Catholics to Welcome the Undocumented
By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor
Bishop Taylor (Photo: Catholic News Agency)
In his previous posting, as a priest in Oklahoma, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor was a fervent opponent of state laws state used to launched a crackdown on illegal immigration. Now, a few months after being named the head of the diocese of Little Rock, Ark., Taylor is again taking the lead on the issue.
In November, Taylor published his first pastoral letter since taking his new job. Titled “I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me: A Pastoral Letter on the Human Rights of Immigrants,” it equates the plight of undocumented immigrants to that of Joseph and Mary when they arrived in Bethlehem and asks Catholics to welcome newcomers rather than reject them. [You can download the letter here.]
“I believe that the major current issue about which American Catholics are most confused today has to do with immigration,” the bishop wrote in an introduction.
“The God of the Bible is a God of immigrants and the history of salvation unfolds largely in the context of immigration,” he added in the letter.