by Isabel Angell
Talking to a group of clergymen from the San Francisco Archdiocese, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said yesterday that immigration reform should be a top priority for Catholics in the United States. That puts Cordileone right in line with bishops across America, who are calling on their parishioners to pressure lawmakers for comprehensive immigration reform.
Archbishop Cordileone told the group that the Catholic Church is bound to help all strangers, including undocumented immigrants.
“Far too many people have been living in the country for far too long without the opportunity to regularize their status,” he said. “And it's not helping anyone by keeping them in the shadows.”
Cordileone called the church a “church of immigrants,” saying most Catholics in the U.S. have immigrant roots. That includes Cordileone, whose grandparents came to the United States from Italy.