05/26/2010
year:
2010
Aston, PA - The congregational leadership of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia expresses its public support of the statement by the presidents of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men calling for immigration reform. This statement was recently sent to President Obama and congressional leaders of both parties. (Click to see statement.)
The Sisters of St. Francis have called for comprehensive immigration reform for many years and took a corporate stand on this issue in 1996. (Visit our website, www.osfphila.org, to view our corporate stand documents.) Some sisters work closely with immigrant families and know the struggles they experience. While we acknowledge the responsibility of any country to control its borders, recent raids, detentions, and deportations often separate parents from children. As mentioned in the attached statement, “it is an absolute necessity for Congress to act soon and comprehensively to fix our broken immigration system.” The recent abhorrent Arizona legislation is not the way to address immigration problems, yet it underscores the need for national comprehensive immigration reform.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia is a congregation of nearly 550 Catholic women religious who choose a Gospel way of life lived in community and uphold a long and honored tradition of loving God and being in relationships through loving service. We are committed to the needs of others, especially those who are economically poor, marginalized, and the oppressed. We are willing to take the necessary risks to be a healing, compassionate presence in our violent world, especially for women, children, and those who have no voice.
