Editorial clarification

In last issue's editorial, we discussed how some readers are writing nasty letters and leaving harsh voice mails over our addition of the Spanish page. In the editorial, we touched on Cardinal George's pastoral letter on racism:

In 2001, Chicago Cardinal Francis George wrote a pastoral letter on racism and issued a bold challenge to Catholics:

"Loving only people who are just like ourselves, loving only those who are members of our biological family or who share our own ethnic or cultural background, our own political views or our own class assumptions, does not fulfill the challenge of the Gospel."

After the issue was mailed, we received a few more letters from folks who think that I'm saying that anyone who is against illegal immigration is racist. That is certainly not what I'm saying. I was specifically addressing the few Catholics whose letters showed an obvious disdain of illegal immigrants. My point was that, regardless of how the immigrants got here, at least while they're here our calling as Catholics is to help catechize and evangelize. Statistics are showing that if the Catholic Church abandons them in their struggles, they will leave the church. What is wrong with at least making sure that they are being fed in their Catholic faith while the larger immigration questions get worked out?

Immigration is again the big issue this summer, and the Herald will cover the issue fairly and do its best to explain church teaching on the matter. And we would love to hear what you have to say on the issues.