The Church of St. Luke

Mountain View, Calif., Jun 22, 2017 / 06:52 am (EWTN News/CNA).- A pro-life activist walks into Google's headquarters and delivers a speech so compelling that within 24 hours, the online video of it surpassed a similar speech given by the head of Planned Parenthood.

London, England, Jun 22, 2017 / 04:01 am (EWTN News/CNA).- Legal efforts to bar the parents of a British baby born with a disabling medical condition from seeking treatment overseas are based on deep ethical errors, a Catholic expert in medical ethics has warned.

Beirut, Lebanon, Jun 22, 2017 / 01:07 pm (EWTN News/CNA).- The synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church elected on Wednesday Archbishop Youssef Absi as the Church's new patriarch, who received ecclesiastical communion from Pope Francis the following day.

Washington D.C., Jun 22, 2017 / 01:04 am (EWTN News/CNA).- With the justice system rife with abuse, there is still much work to be done to call the faithful to minister to prisoners, victims, and their families, Christian leaders maintained on Tuesday.

Washington D.C., Jun 21, 2017 / 10:08 pm (EWTN News/CNA).- The U.S. bishops have launched a website and video to mark the beginning of this year's Fortnight for Freedom, focusing on religious freedom issues both at home and abroad.

Atlanta, Ga., Jun 21, 2017 / 05:33 pm (EWTN News/CNA).- Abortion rights groups invested heavily and lost in Tuesday night's runoff special election for a Georgia House seat, and pro-lifers maintain the outcome proves the futility of the pro-abortion agenda.

San Salvador, El Salvador, Jun 21, 2017 / 04:01 am (EWTN News/CNA).- Pope Francis' decision to elevate Bishop José Gregorio Rosa Chávez is unprecedented: not only is he the first Salvadoran cardinal, he is also the first auxiliary bishop to be given a red biretta.

Phoenix, Ariz., Jun 21, 2017 / 01:08 am (EWTN News/CNA).- In recognition of their promotion of religious freedom, the founder of Alliance Defending Freedom and his wife will be inducted next week into the Order of St. Gregory the Great.

Newark, N.J., Jun 20, 2017 / 07:04 am (EWTN News/CNA).- Last month Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark welcomed a pilgrimage of self-identified LGBT pilgrims, with an archdiocesan spokesman saying it should be seen in the context of welcoming everyone, not as archdiocese sponsorship of the event.

WASHINGTON—The President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston as well as the Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, have sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, John F. Kelly, urging him to defer deportation of those persons to Iraq, particularly Christians and Chaldean Catholics, who pose no threat to U.S. public safety.

The letter has been sent to specifically address the pending deportation of dozens of Christian and Chaldean Catholics in Michigan and Tennessee.

While the bishops recognize that some of the individuals may have orders of deportation because they have committed criminal offenses in the past, they are gravely concerned that they would then be sent back to a country where religious persecution and persecution against ethnic minorities remains an ongoing threat. The letter states that "the fact that they have a significant risk in experiencing persecution, and even possible bodily harm because of their faith is, from our moral perspective, an important factor to be weighted in the calculation to deport." 

The full letter to Secretary Kelly can be found here:  https://justiceforimmigrants.org/uncategorized/1287/

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Keywords: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Secretary John F. Kelly, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez , Bishop Oscar Cantú, Committee on Migration, Committee on International Peace and Justice, Christians, Chaldean Catholics, deportation, legal refuge, refugees, religious persecution, ethnic minorities.

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