Respect and Dignity: Jesuit Parish Offers Sanctuary to Immigrant Brothers and Sisters
BY KELLY SWAN | January 20, 2017
On the evening of January 19, parishioners gathered at the doors of St. Agnes Church in San Francisco invoking a blessing and making a bold commitment to serve as a sanctuary church for the community.
Give us the courage to open these doors and the doors of our hearts to all who knock and seek refuge.
St. Agnes is the first U.S. Jesuit parish to publicly declare itself a sanctuary church for immigrants who may be impacted by policy changes anticipated under the new presidential administration. Putting faith put into action is not something new for them.
The parish is home to the Ignatian Spiritual Life Center, designed to draw individuals into an authentic relationship with God while exploring the call to live out this relationship in the world.
Parishioners blessing church doors at “Prayers of Light” vigil on January 19
After the November 2016 election, a parishioner who, as a religious sister, was deeply engaged in the sanctuary movement of the 1980s approached parish staff and pastor Fr. Ray Allender, SJ, urging discussion of how St. Agnes might draw from those models of sanctuary to similarly uphold the dignity of immigrants in the current global and U.S. climate.
Parishioners, joined by Fr. Allender and Natalie Terry, Director of the Ignatian Spiritual Life Center, understood the necessity of exploring the new sanctuary movement. “We need to do this,” explains Terry, “to be faithful citizens and good members of our community.”
Public sign welcoming immigrants and refugees at the Ignatian Spiritual Life Center
The decision to declare St. Agnes and the Ignatian Spiritual Life Center a sanctuary was ultimately made by the parish ministry team. “We already call the space in which we gather to break bread a sanctuary,” shares Terry, of the support of the parish. “We are not doing anything radical. We are simply doing the work of being members of a community, as a Catholic church.”
A statement released in anticipation of the vigil on Thursday outlines specific ways in which sanctuary will manifest in the parish community. Involvement will be varied and comprehensive, including: engagement with the San Francisco Rapid Response Network to respond and be present during ICE raids in homes or workplaces, formation of an Accompaniment Team to support families affected by raids, offering the Ignatian Spiritual Life Center as a safe meeting space for organizers and a refuge for families or individuals facing deportation, and listening and responding to and communally praying for immigrant brothers and sisters.
“We state clearly that there are no illegal people…” reads the sanctuary statement. “There are undocumented people and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity just like any person in our community.”
Kelly Swan has worked for the Ignatian Solidarity Network since 2016, first as communications director, and now as director of advancement. She grew up in West Virginia and is a graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University. Kelly has worked in parish social ministry, child and family advocacy, community education and organizing, and publishing. She lives in the Cleveland, Ohio area with her children.
Human beings are made in the image and likeness of the divine.
Now you want to defy the law but while we have been killing the unborn since 1970 you were silent. You did not rise up against Roe v Wade and declare that you would refuse to pay taxes as long as your tax dollars went to Planned Parenthood and funding abortions in foreign countries. Those innocent babies did nothing wrong. 60 million babies killed in this country. Illegal immigrants defied our laws – Jesus would never have condoned this. Enter legally – we want you here. Enter legally like my family did. Enter legally and become an American.
Foolish initiative. To be admitted to a country is no right. It is a favour. No country is morally obligated to open its borders to massive immigration.
Thank you.