Somos America / We Are America Coalition

July 28, 2008

Most Reverend Thomas J Olmsted

Diocese of Phoenix
400 East Monroe Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2336

Dear Bishop Olmsted:

Your Excellency, I am contacting you as the elected leader of Somos América/We Are
America, a broad coalition of community organizations that focus on immigrant, civil,
and human rights. Members of the Somos América coalition have asked me to represent
them in contacting you regarding the human and civil rights crisis that has been
escalating specifically in Maricopa County, and, more broadly, the territory covered by
the Diocese of Phoenix.

Many of the coalition’s members adhere to a Catholic faith life, and are deeply
appreciative of the materials that you have published in the past, such as “Catholics in the
Public Square,” the Pastoral Letter on Migration that you co-signed with the other
Arizona Bishops, and more recently, the USCCB effort on Faithful Citizenship. They
appreciate your words in the Catholic Sun:

Conversely, immigration laws badly in need of reform are used today as an

excuse not to welcome the stranger, even to refuse humanitarian assistance to
women and children. It is true that a nation has the right to enact laws that
regulate immigration but those laws are always subject to the greater laws of God.
They must be just and must preserve the dignity of each human person.
Furthermore, there are certain natural rights of the human person that must be
protected and which no man-made law may usurp.

Bishop Olmsted, these words are deeply meaningful to people who live their lives as
Catholics, and more broadly to people who live their faith traditions holding human
dignity as core to their beliefs. Yet, most people of faith have felt let down and
abandoned by their high-ranking religious leaders when the words do not specifically
address the local lived experiences that church-going families have here in Maricopa
County.

PO Box 15363 • Scottsdale, AZ 85267

Members of our coalition ask: What is dignified about children being held at gunpoint by
Sheriff’s Deputies? What is dignified about families being rent in the name of Law
Enforcement when felons not only roam the streets but exploit with impunity decent,
hard-working people of faith? What is dignified about living a life of fear to the level of
being unable to go to the store or to school without fear of never seeing some of your
loved ones again? What is dignified about a legal permanent resident of the United
States being told by hospital personnel that he will be sent to Mexico unless the family
agrees to disconnect him from life support because he has no health insurance? Your
Excellency, these are daily occurrences in the lives of people of Hispanic descent in this
Diocese, and they only touch the surface of examples of the current assault on Human
Dignity that are excused as basic law enforcement and being “tough on crime.” Your
people are suffering, Bishop, and according to the writings in “Welcoming the Stranger
in America”, the People of Faith who follow you are called to respond:

“Some of them came with proper papers, others did not. Whatever the case, the
Church has always felt obliged to extend a warm welcome and helping hand….
We cannot forget Jesus’ words (Mt 25:35), “I was a stranger and you welcomed
me.”

“John Paul II spells out the kind of attitude we should have towards these recent
arrivals (Ibid.), “Migrants should be met with a hospitable and welcoming
attitude, which can encourage them to become part of the Church’s life, always
with due regard for their freedom and their specific cultural identity.”

“What we are dealing with here is more than a matter of justice, even though it
certainly is that. It is also a matter of love. No man-made law, [emphasis added]
no circumstance, no custom can excuse us from the obligation to love our
neighbor, whether the neighbor is a Samaritan or a Hispanic, whether he speaks
our language or not. The demands of Christ’s call to love our neighbor are great
indeed.”

So much of your booklet “Catholics in the Public Square” talks about how people of
Catholic faith are called to live a different life – even public life – than the status quo.
Yet, some of the most prominent voices in public life claim membership in a Catholic
Church and act directly against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Please, Bishop,
your voice is needed to call this behavior out and decry it. Your faithful are hurting in
the wake of such hypocrisy: they are afraid to go to Church; they are afraid to go to
work; they are afraid to seek medical care for their family members; they are afraid to
take their children to school. Your voice is needed in our midst, not only to comfort the
afflicted, but to afflict the comfortable.

PO Box 15363 • Scottsdale, AZ 85267

We, as a coalition, live with and respond every day to our neighbors who suffer, making
every effort to ease their pain. We invite you to join us in a meeting with some of the
most devastated families in the Valley. Perhaps by gathering with them face to face and
hearing their stories, we could hear your pastoral leadership in response.

Most Respectfully,

Héctor Yturralde, President

Somos América /We Are America Coalition

602-370-4729

PO Box 15363 • Scottsdale, AZ 85267