• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Faith leaders and several hundred supporters march next to a fence after entering the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego June 23 during a rally in support of immigrant families who had been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. (CNS photo/David Maung)

Making a difference

June 27, 2018
By Effie Caldarola
Filed Under: Commentary, For the Journey

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Many years ago, the Irish poet W.B. Yeats wrote, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”

Some Americans feel those words are eerily prescient right now. Things are falling apart.

The crisis created at our border bids us to take action, and political action is good. But no matter what our political stripe, we’re called first to be Jesus’ disciples. Jesus is the center.

To find that center, we need to find silence and prayer. In an increasingly secular society, we forget that action should stem from contemplation.

Meanwhile, racial and ethnic profiling come to us from the top and seep down. The administration parades victims before us, people who have been hurt by undocumented individuals. While I have deep sympathy for those beset by any violent crime, there is no more reason to suspect the majority of those fleeing violence in Central America than there is to suspect the majority of those whose ancestors arrived on the Mayflower.

We as Catholics are obliged to speak up against bigotry, against the dehumanization of others. Making good legislation for border security is one thing; calling into question the humanity of those who are different from us is sinful.

Most of those fleeing violence are, as Jeb Bush pointed out during his presidential bid, doing so out of love. The United Nations reports that El Salvador and Honduras currently have the highest homicide rates in the world. People are literally running for their lives.

As the rhetoric heats up, people who work at the White House are being kicked out of restaurants. Entertainers make lewd jokes and hurl obscenities at the president. What’s happening to us?

St. Teresa of Kolkata put it this way: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to one another.”

Our world is in the largest refugee crisis since World War II, with over 68 million people worldwide forcibly displaced, according to the United Nations. Countries across the globe face serious issues on their borders.

A singer I know recently traveled to Italy where she sang with her choral group at a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a thrilling moment for Anne.

But her strongest memory? The group sang at a refugee facility run in part by the Catholic Church. Anne was struck by the facility’s attractiveness, joy, cleanliness. It was neither a detention center nor a warehouse.

“It made me proud of my church,” she said. “It sends a tremendous message to the world on how the church views refugees.”

Then Anne reiterated a basic premise of our faith, one we proclaim as pro-life people. The facility, she said, affirmed “the dignity of the human person.”

To find out how the U.S. church is addressing the issue, visit justiceforimmigrants.org, which provides education, resources and suggestions for action.

Closer to home, my friend Larry recently drove 15 hours to help a Mexican man, who is applying for asylum in the U.S, attend a court appearance in another state. Had he missed the court date, called on very short notice, the man’s appeal might have been dismissed.

Larry went “over and above” the call of duty. But then, so did the Samaritan, who stopped by the roadside to help a stranger while others passed him by.

Father Pedro Arrupe, leader of the Jesuits in the late 20th century, said, “The church should, above all, be the church of the oppressed, the refugees, those persecuted for their faith, those relegated by the rich and powerful to the margins of society.”

That’s the church where we’ll find the center.

 

Copyright ©2018 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Effie Caldarola

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use

Cupcakes with 2025 graduation toothpicks in them and a bowl of cookies

Our 31-hour Road Trip

St. Paul and discovering that sin is ‘missing the mark’

Six lit candles on a chocolate birthday cake

Making a birthday wish come true

Pilgrims of Hope: Walking the Way of St. Francis in the Year of Jubilee

| Recent Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en