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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Pope Francis asks U.S. bishops to welcome immigrants, take care of priests

USA Today
By Susan Miller and Gregory Korte
September 23, 2015

Pope Francis urged his fellow American bishops to take care of the spiritual needs of priests and to welcome new immigrants into the United States, gently admonishing them to "flee the temptation of narcissism."

In a tone more fraternal than scolding, Francis encouraged the bishops as spiritual shepherds but also urged them to confront the issues of the world: The response to abortion, childhood hunger, immigration, the elderly, terrorism are "essential aspects of the Church’s mission," he said. "It is wrong, then, to look the other way or to remain silent."

Francis also sought healing for the victims of the priest sexual abuse scandal. "I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims — in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed — and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated," he said.

The pope delivered his remarks to the U.S. bishops in a noontime prayer service at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Washington named for the patron saint of civil servants. His remarks were delivered in Italian and steeped in references to the Gospels.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, the president of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, welcomed the pope. "We look forward to you meeting our people — the influential, the forgotten and everyone in between."

Afterward, Francis greeted bishops as they came to kiss his fisherman's ring in a symbol of their unity with the Bishop of Rome. "The Holy Father asked me to say that he is sorry that he cannot greet every single bishop personally," said his host, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, as Francis smiled and pantomimed looking at his watch.

The prayer service was closed to the public, and — although televised — his remarks were directed more at the bishops than to the faithful. "I have not come to judge you or to lecture you," he said. "Allow me only, in the freedom of love, to speak to you as a brother among brothers."

He asked the bishops to keep the church close to Christ and to the faithful.

"Our greatest joy is to be shepherds, and only shepherds, pastors with undivided hearts and selfless devotion. We need to preserve this joy and never let ourselves be robbed of it," he said. "It is not about preaching complicated doctrines, but joyfully proclaiming Christ who died and rose for our sake."

As Francis became more emphatic in pleading the cause of immigrants, bishops leaned forward and listened intently. Francis, himself the child of Italian immigrants to Argentina and a self-described "pastor of the South," admitted that he was "pleading his own case" to the bishops.

"The Church in the United States knows like few others the hopes present in the hearts of these pilgrims," he said. "From the beginning you have learned their languages, promoted their cause, made their contributions your own, defended their rights, helped them to prosper, and kept alive the flame of their faith. Even today, no American institution does more for immigrants than your Christian communities."

He said accommodating immigrants isn't always easy at first. "Offer them the warmth of the love of Christ and you will unlock the mystery of their heart. I am certain that, as so often in the past, these people will enrich America and its church," he said.


Outside the Cathedral, local Catholics waited to s glimpse of the pope getting in and out of his now-iconic black Fiat compact. Sharon Savinski, a native Washingtonian, said she was thrilled to get a closeup of Francis. "He is just an example of goodness  He brings joy to life," she said.

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