A Catholic church in Omaha, Nebraska has apologized for posting a sign on immigration laws that sparked intense criticism from its community.
Faithwire reported that the message posted at St. Mary's Church read, "Heaven has strict immigration laws--hell has open borders." The message spurred a lot of fury against the church.
A photo of the marque message placed in front of the church was posted online by Ferial Pearson, who was a former teacher at South High. Fearson pinpointed the location of the church and beckoned the public to share sentiments on it with appropriate authorities.
Pearson's post garnered more than 200 shares and received 350 reactions within hours. Most of the comments on the post expressed repulsion towards the message. One commenter said the "entire neighborhood was built by immigrants. That church was built by immigrants."
In addition, numerous complaints were sent by residents to the church and the Archdiocese of Omaha. One of which came from South Omaha Mural Project Founder Gary Kastrict who expressed distaste for the message. Kastrict, whose organization honors immigrants, found the message inappropriate to come from a church.
"There's no place for this. I mean, its not even an inference. The Socratic idea of people should be educated. People unconsciously do not realize what they are saying and what they're...there's no place for things like that if you constantly are aware of just how demeaning that is what they said," Kastrict said.
A local resident echoed Kastrict's sentiments stating that the message did not feel right. He said the message actually threw him off because it came from a church. Similarly, local historian Jose Garcia told 3 News Now the same thing. Garcia stressed that it was insensitive for the church to post the message in a community that comprise mostly immigrants.
"To put that on a Catholic diocesan property in the middle of the immigrant capital of the Midwest is not only a slap in the face, it is a wound to civility," Garcia pointed out.
St. Mary's Senior Associate Rev. Frank Jindra explained to the Nebraska Examiner that the message was put up by a church volunteer without their knowledge. Jindra did not comment further except to stress that the message was already been removed. The church did quickly remove the message and even replaced it with, "Lo Siento," which meant, "I'm sorry," in Spanish.
In addition, the Archdiocese issued a formal apology about the incident through a statement. The Archdiocese acknowledged the fault of the volunteer who made the error in posting the message. Accordingly, the volunteer has been removed from his duties in the church.
"St. Mary Parish and the Archdiocese of Omaha apologize to anyone who has been hurt by the marquee message. Both the parish and the Archdiocese have enjoyed a longstanding relationship with our Hispanic brothers and sisters living in the city. One person's mistake will not weaken this valued relationship," the Archdiocese said.
Residents have accepted the apologies and hope that the volunteer would learn an important lesson to be careful with one's words and what one posts for the public to see. Kastrict appreciated the apology and the actions done to correct it. He, more than anything, hoped that the person, the church, and the archdiocese really understood why the message said was wrong.
