Catholic leaders celebrate Mass in shadow of border fence, call for US immigration reform

[rug]

Article by: BRIAN SKOLOFF , Associated Press
Updated: April 1, 2014 - 3:00 PM

NOGALES, Ariz. — Roman Catholic leaders made a rare visit to the border and celebrated Mass on Tuesday in the shadow of the fence separating the U.S. and Mexico, offering Holy Communion through the steel barrier to people on the Mexican side as they sought to bring attention to the plight of immigrants.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the leader of the Boston Archdiocese, led a delegation of bishops from around the country and Mexico in the trip to the border, less than a week after President Barack Obama discussed immigration reform in a meeting with Pope Francis. They toured the border city of Nogales, walked along a notorious section of the border that was once a popular crossing point for drug and immigrant smugglers, and celebrated Mass just a few feet from the fence.

The Catholic leaders believe that immigration is a humanitarian issue that deserves urgent attention by Congress. They cite the dozens of immigrants who die each year in the brutal desert terrain while trying to cross illegally into the United States along the roughly 2,000-mile-long border with Mexico and note that the immigrants are simply trying to find better lives in America.

"This is not just a political or economic problem," O'Malley said Tuesday. "This is a moral problem."

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/253313731.html

[okasha]

1. Good for them.

My section of the border has a fence, not a wall, but it's still a detestable thing.