WHAT WOULD JESUS DO
In the Readers’ Responses in the Winter 2026 issue of Maryknoll, a letter opposes open borders and asserts that Bishop Seitz had advocated them. An editor’s note followed, clarifying that neither the bishop “nor Church teaching” advocated for open borders, simply proper vetting.
My first thought regarding this dilemma is that, yes, proper vetting sounds appropriate. Yet I wonder what is “proper vetting.” Is there a long time frame, i.e., months or years? If so, how hard is it for the illegal immigrants and their impoverished families to withstand? My next question is, how difficult is “proper vetting?” Does it require uneducated applicants to justify their entry?
Then I wonder, what would Jesus do? I think he’d advocate for open borders, even if it were difficult for citizens of the home country. In addition, when we hear assertions of the dangers of “undesirables” coming into our country, I do believe it is considerably less than the percentages of our own citizens who are “murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and sex traffickers.” A very large percentage of the people in the city where I live are immigrants, yet I very seldom hear of crimes being committed by immigrants compared with our native citizens committing crimes.
So, if I believe Jesus would advocate open borders, and it may also increase crime in our country, what would I propose? I don’t know. I hope smarter citizens of our wonderful country than I, our Church leaders and our politicians, can conceive of a better way than the current dilemma we face.
Michael O’Sheasy
Gainesville, Georgia
SHAME ON YOU
You have finally pushed so far past reality with your “From the Editor” and “The Church Raises Its Voice on Immigration” in the Spring 2026 Maryknoll magazine that I no longer have any desire to read your opinions and magazine. Shame on you for not understanding how a large number of good, caring, decent, law-abiding practicing Catholics feel about illegal immigration.
The hypocrisy of Pope Leo and the U.S. bishops in condemning the immediate deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States is without equal. A country or any institution without rules and laws ceases to exist. Perhaps Pope Leo could open the entire Vatican City to all immigrants across the world who would like to live in the buildings and on the grounds.
Marc D. Varney Clovis,
California
SADDENED BY HATE
I was very saddened to read some of the Readers’ Responses in the Spring edition of your magazine. The hateful comments about immigrants were really upsetting. However, I think it was important to print them, as well as the positive ones. I was pleased to read the editor’s article supporting immigrants and calling out ICE agents, who have killed American citizens and terrorized thousands of poor people. Keep up the good work and God bless Maryknoll.
Kathleen Skinner
Tuckahoe, New York
MAKE ROOM
I read Jennifer Tomshack’s article about Maryknoll Lay Missioner Theresa Glaser’s work in Kenya. So inspiring! A beautiful person doing good work. I wouldn’t know about it except for your magazine. I am saddened by some of your readers’ negative responses to immigration issues. It is a sin that the wealthiest nation in the world cannot move down the bench to make room for those who are in need.
Stephen McCarthy
Wayland, Massachusetts
BROKEN HEART
It broke my heart to read some of the Readers’ Responses in your Spring 2026 edition. Misinformation about immigration to the United States is rampant. The facts show plainly that the majority of those caught up in the government’s current deportation program are people seeking asylum under federal law or with temporary protected status granted in recent years by our government responding to violence or repression in their home countries. Justice and fairness require that we seek out accurate information about this issue and refuse to take at face value the misinformation being spread by biased news organizations and others seeking to blame immigrants for problems in our nation. No one argues about deporting criminals who have arrived here illegally. But these numbers are relatively small and are not the people the American bishops are seeking to assist.
Michael J. DeMott
Rochester, New York
ACTIONS COUNT
Thank you for speaking the truth about our Christian faith and the treatment of immigrants. I read with dismay the negative letters from readers in the Spring 2026 issue. It is obvious to me that racism was rearing its ugly head in these letters, along with fear of people who speak a different language. The states in which these writers live are more isolated, and it is possible that the writers “fear what or whom they do not know.”
As a practicing Catholic, I love receiving Maryknoll magazine as it makes my heart lighter knowing that there are people truly doing God’s work! I am following Pope Leo’s words closely, and I would remind people who say they are Christian that actions count more than words.
Paula Serafino Cross
Wilbraham, Massachusetts
Featured image: Young men in the discernment process to become Maryknoll priests study philosophy at Tangaza University in Nairobi, Kenya, where the mission society has a formation house. (Paul Jeffrey/Kenya)
