CALL TO COMPASSION:

In response to a slew of immigration bills making their way
through Congress, Cardinal Roger Mahoney asked priests in the Los
Angeles Archdiocese – including Santa Barbara – to encourage
compassion for undocumented workers during last Sunday’s services.
The most draconian of the proposed legislation, bill HR4437, would
require clergy to determine the immigration status of prospective
parishioners and report those they deem illegal. The cardinal’s
request had mixed results – Pastors Luis Quihuis and Mike Ravenkamp
addressed the subject during Our Lady of Sorrows Sunday services,
and Pastor Rafael Marin-Leon participated in an immigration
teach-in before Sunday evening services at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
However, neither Father Maurice O’Mahony of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
or Rev. Bruce Correio of St. Raphael’s broached the subject.