It was amusing, and not a little maddening, to read the Boston Archdiocese’s reasoning in ordering a priest in Dedham to remove a sign from a Nativity scene that stuck up for vulnerable people who are being snatched off the streets by the most unChristian government in the nation’s history.
Terry Donilon, a very decent guy who works as a spokesman for the archdiocese, issued a statement saying the sign “ICE WAS HERE” that explained the absence of the baby Jesus and his parents from the manger outside St. Susanna was “divisive.”
Divisive? Masked ICE agents forcibly grabbing people, including children, most of whom are not criminals, some of whom are American citizens, and shipping those they lock up out of state before their families and lawyers know where they are is divisive.
ICE agents breaking windows because frightened people don’t roll them down fast enough for unidentified, masked armed men surrounding their car is divisive.
ICE arresting people for things they say or write is divisive.
Performative police state cosplaying aimed at ridding the country of millions of people who are unable to get legal because the same people who are encouraging and justifying all this cruelty and brutality stall all efforts to reform an immigration system that has been broken for decades is divisive.
The sign that the Rev. Stephen Josoma and his parishioners put outside their church may be divisive, but it’s also very Christian and keeping with the message that Catholic bishops put out last month, expressing concern for the lack of due process being afforded to immigrants who are being rounded up by ICE.
“We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school,” the US Conference of Bishops said. “Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants.”
I hate to break it to the bishops, but the last thing informing the current administration in Washington is Catholic or any kind of Christian teaching, despite the administration’s overt, phony baloney religiosity.
Donilon said the sign had to be removed because it was “politically divisive.”
So the Catholic Church in Boston, which over the years has spent money and influence trying to convince us not to allow same-sex marriage or extend the length of time a rape victim can file complaints or limit access to abortion or any number of political issues it opposes, says a sign sticking up for the most vulnerable among us is “politically divisive.”
Talk about tone deaf.
Jesus himself was accused of being a criminal on specious grounds, subjected to a kangaroo court, and murdered in the most gruesome way by people who ran the government.
I don’t think Jesus would support the US government targeting people because of where they live, what they look like, their language, or where they work. I don’t think Jesus would support demonizing people who left their home countries for a better life, and found it impossible to get legal because politicians refuse opportunities to reform a broken system whose dysfunction they would rather exploit for political gain than fix.
I think Jesus would support and defend the people ICE are lugging to meet some stupid, arbitrary quota set by Donald Trump, the most unChristian president in history.
I had to laugh at the reaction of Tricia McLaughlin, the flak the Department of Homeland Security rolls out to defend its daily violations of the law and common decency.
“Not only is this ‘nativity’ scene offensive to Christians, but it is also depicting something that - despite what Rev. Josoma says - NEVER happens. ICE does not separate families,” McLaughlin said.
There must be something wrong with her search engine. There are plenty of reports of ICE separating families. It happens all the time, despite McLaughlin’s disingenuous denials.
McLaughlin urged Father Stephen to “get a grip and seek help.”
How very Christian of her.
The Archdiocese of Boston did more than just throw Father Stephen and the parishioners of St. Susanna’s under the bus.
The archdiocese reminded us that, in the 23 years since its leaders were exposed by this newspaper for covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests, it hasn’t learned a thing about doing the right thing.
Things change. Catholics used to be a persecuted minority in this country. Now the Catholic majority on the Supreme Court routinely enables persecution.
Trump won the Catholic vote handily, and the archdiocese has to know that.
Hey, it’s their churches and their pews, and they can do what they want, dress it up as following their own rules, even if their rules, in this case, fly in the face of what any sentient Christian knows Jesus would do.
But, as they cower in the face of an administration that pretends to champion Christians while making a mockery of everything Jesus Christ stood for, the people who run the Archdiocese of Boston might want to ask themselves why, year after year, there are fewer people in those pews.
One final irony: St. Susanna was persecuted and murdered by pagans because she refused to recognize their authority.
Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at kevin.cullen@globe.com.