Adorers on New U.S. Policy on Family Separation

We, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, U.S. Region, have been appalled, dismayed and disheartened by our government’s new policy of family separation of undocumented adults and their children at our southwestern border.

The images and audio are alarming: a nursing child taken from its mother, children at set-up shelters and tent cities wailing for their parents and unable to be comforted, a toddler calling for his “papa.” Pediatricians and child psychologists cite research that shows that a parent alone is the stability, that even under the discomfort of confinement, can stave off the stress hormones that would damage a child’s developing brain. Why is America inflicting this pain, this neurological damage, on a defenseless, developing child?

Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has called these family-child separations at the border a form of child abuse.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has declared that gang violence and domestic abuse are no longer grounds for asylum, recently invoked Scripture as grounds for separating adults and their children.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” Sessions said. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.”

We also rely on Scripture and arrive at a different conclusion.

We have seen the crying, four-month-old baby, Andrea, physically removed from her mother’s arms, her mother, Sofia, collapsed to the ground overcome by grief.

In Jeremiah 31:15, the Lord says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Those of us on the sidelines feel stunned and paralyzed.

Yet, we have arrived at a moment that demands we act and say “No more,” that we summon all the grace of our charism and call and be those “courageous, compassionate, committed women” that we profess to be.

Let us be clear, this is not about politics, choosing sides or hurling epithets at elected leaders. This is about reclaiming the soul of our nation and proclaiming the hope we are called to make real.

We implore fellow Americans to join us in that.

Adorers of the Blood of Christ
U.S. Region
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World Refugee Day
June 20, 2018

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash