The Clerics of St. Viator would like to share and support the communal statement of the Religious Brothers Conference, as composed and approved at this month’s annual assembly:
We, the Conference of Religious Brothers meeting in St. Louis, Missouri July 7-10, 2025, feel compelled to speak to the present issue of immigration in our beloved United States of America. We as Religious Brothers, men of faith, cannot stand by at the present moment without stating that there needs to be an immediate and different solution to the immigration issue. According to our Catholic social teachings the right to migrate creates a moral responsibility on the part of States to receive and welcome immigrants. Our country has always been a welcoming country that always welcomed and assisted immigrants who are poor and come to our country seeking freedom. This fundamental attitude cannot change today. We stand with our brothers and sisters who are caught in these government raids of their homes and places of employment that seek to deport them. We support them and their families in their struggle for a better life, here among us in this country.
We demand our leaders to find better solutions to deal with these immigrant people because we feel their human rights in this country are being violated. We need to respect their rights and human dignity. We condemn mass deportations of immigrants. We need to accept and welcome foreigners who search for security and means of livelihood, which they cannot find in their own countries.
We are men of Hope, commissioned by our religious lives to care for, protect and raise up those who come to our country in search of a better life. We trust our government leaders are able to provide creative solutions to immigration, respecting the rights and dignity of individuals and families that come to our country. We call on them to desist from the present program of deportation immediately and to create and fund creative, humane solutions.