Photo:
Protesters against the detention of migrant children outside of City Hall in Los Angeles, California. (Reuters: Patrick T Fallon)
Fr.
Tony’s Midweek Message
Defilement
from the Heart
June
20, 2018
“[Jesus said,] ‘Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles … Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit… Whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer. But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’ (Matt 15:10-20)
Last
Sunday, I preached on Jesus’ teaching on the Reign of God and applied this to
the current political and moral crisis we face in our nation. Many,
many religious and civic leaders of all faiths and political parties have condemned
in the strongest possible terms (“child abuse,” “evil,” “wicked,” “cruel and
heartless,” and “unconscionable”) the separation of children from their parents
under what was rolled out as a “zero tolerance” policy toward “illegal
immigration” by the administration back in May.
Today, our Bishop +Michael Hanley
sent out a pastoral message encouraging us all to take steps to oppose this evil
being committed in our name: https://www.diocese-oregon.org/families-belong-together/. The
Episcopal Policy Network has called on us to participate in a “virtual vigil”
in favor of keeping families together on the border on Thursday, the Summer Solstice,
to make the point that any time a child is forcibly separated from its parent
is too long a time: https://www.facebook.com/events/790637474463760/.
The
White House today responded to this public outrage by issuing an Executive
Order that ostensibly would end the practice of separating families: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-separation/. Reading
the document carefully, it is clear that it eliminates the current 20-day limit
on holding people accused of illegal entry into the United States (presumably,
they can now be held indefinitely) and there is no evidence of any intention or
preparation to reunite families that have already been separated. Over 2,000 children remain held away from
their parents and relatives in what the administration has called “unfortunate,
but legally necessary” isolated detention.
This is all the more troubling in
light of the President’s earlier tweets saying that the separated children were
bargaining chips to help him cut down on illegal immigration and get funding
for his signature project in this area, his “beautiful” border wall. Remember that in the internment of Japanese
Americans in World War II, as shameful as that episode was, we never tore
children from their parents.
As
part of the Virtual Vigil on Thursday, Trinity Church at 9 a.m. local time will
toll its bell 2,000 times remembering those 2,000 plus children who remain torn from their families
What
we say and think matters. That’s why
Jesus says defilement comes from the mouth and the heart, and that the blind
lead the blind. The President has fed
his political base a non-ending stream of vilification and dehumanization of
those who seek to come into the U.S. from south of the border. It is chilling to watch videos of him,
shaking his fist, leading chants at political rallies of “ANIMALS, ANIMAL,
ANIMALS!” It matters little whether this
is about gang members alone since it has the effect of dehumanizing anyone coming
from that direction. Note his claim that
he is only trying to keep them from “infesting” our nation. The fact that his Justice Department is seeking
to limit drastically the grounds for granting asylum is the manifestation of this
in cold, bureaucratic legalese.
People
who defend the President’s policies here can trot out reasons, whether from the
Bible (!), law and previous administrations’ practices, and the great specter
of “infestation.” Out of the heart come
words and evil intentions indeed. The
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services said yesterday in a
press conference that she was “offended” that anyone would dare claim that the
Administration had intentionally harmed children to advance its policy
goals. “We’re just trying to enforce the
laws Congress has passed, and if you want to blame anyone, blame them and the
Democrats”! But this is not about
parties. It is about right and wrong,
and who we are as a people. Hannah
Arendt, in Eichmann in Jerusalem,
spoke of the “the banality of evil.”
I hope
the administration follows through in banning this wickedness and in making every effort to reunite those 2,000
kids and their families, wrenched apart by the “zero tolerance” announced in
May. I invite all to read +Michael’s
letter and take action. And if you are
near downtown, listen for that tolling bell tomorrow morning at 9.
Grace
and Peace,
Fr.
Tony+
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