A Guy in the Pew

The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona has taken a decidedly unpopular position on the immigration issue--that it is a human problem, resulting from human beings trying to find a better life for themselves and their families, and that our faith demands that we treat immigrants as our neighbors. The result has been quite a bit of activity--including support of fair trade operations in Mexico that allow families to make living at home, health care visits to border communities, and displays of solidarity with immigrants. My church, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix, has a new video initiative, and the first short video (about 6 minutes) is devoted to this issue. If you look closely you will see Bishop Smith in Naco at the most recent border procession. This is the first of a series of videos. You can find all of the videos at You Tube here . More context on what the video shows can be found here . And, here, without further ado is the video:

I think that immigration may be the sleeper issue of the year for the Christian community in the United States. I have been amazed at teh harsh and uncompassionate views on the issue that are taken by many professing Christians. Don't get me wrong, I agree that the United States needs to protect our borders, but we also need to take into account compassion in dealing with the tweleve million or so undocumented immigrants living among us--many of them for years. The Pope spoke out on this issue this past week and was immediately denounced by the likes of Tom Tancredo and Lou Dobbs for doing so. I thought that the response of the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board was just about perfect: It's not everyday that a backbencher in Congress draws international attention by insulting the spiritual leader of one in four Americans. But Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo, the anti-immigrant obsessive, wasn't about to miss his moment. Pope Benedict XVI called on U.S. bi...

The Diocese of Arizona has a Spanish language congregation, San Pablo, that has been hit especially hard by Sheriff Arpaio's anti-immigrant round-ups. For those outside of Arizona, our local Sheriff will put huge resources in predominately Hispanic areas of the county. They will look for small infractions--such as broken headlights and the like, with the hope of catching undocumented immigrants. (Meanwhile, thousands of felony warrants go unserved for alleged lack of resources). Bishop Kirk Smith used his weekly column to point out how a Good Friday round-up hurt San Pablo worshippers: Thursday night I spoke to a group of about 1,500 members of the East Valley Interfaith, an ecumenical group that works with political leaders to further such causes as public safely, education, health care, and immigration reform. It was apparent from that meeting that Arizona has a major church/state crisis on its hands as it reacts to the tactics used by the County Sheriff in his crusade to catch u...