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Opinion
Confirmed
Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, called for prayers and support for immigrant families affected by recent immigration enforcement.
In a statement, Caggiano said, 'I am asking every parish of the diocese to include a prayer for immigrant families and for all those affected by these events at every Mass in the days ahead.'
He noted, 'Families in Fairfield County, including those in Danbury and Stamford, have lived through moments of real fear as immigration enforcement activity has intensified in our area.'
The bishop emphasized that regardless of immigration status, each person 'is made in the image and likeness of God and possesses a dignity that no earthly power may set aside.'
Caggiano also addressed the impact on community life, stating, 'I have heard of husbands and fathers taken from their cars on the way to work, of spouses unable to find where a loved one has been brought, and of neighbors who no longer feel at ease walking to the store, dropping off a child at school, or simply going about the ordinary business of the day.'
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont echoed these sentiments, saying, 'Rounding up people at random to fill a quota does not lower crime. It traumatizes families and communities.'
Caggiano urged the community to remember the words of the Lord: 'Do not be afraid, for I am with you.' He added, 'Fear is real, but it does not have the final word.'
The bishop also called on Our Lady of Guadalupe, 'mother of the migrant and consolation of the afflicted,' to 'wrap her mantle around every family who suffers in this hour.'
Caggiano concluded, 'Christ walks with every suffering family in Fairfield County each day, and He asks each of us, as His Church, to walk with them as well.'
Background
Eagle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,731.
Eagle is the common name for certain large predatory birds of prey within the family of the Accipitridae. While on a genetic level, only the subfamily Aquilinae comprises "true eagles", many other species are commonly referred to as eagles, such as the bald eagle, and the term generally carries no taxonomic weight.
What's confirmed
- Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, called for prayers and support for immigrant families affected by recent immigration enforcement.
What's still developing
- I first met James van Beek in 1994 when I began working at the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy sheriff.
- James has also never allowed the title of sheriff to separate him from the public.
- So my support for James isn’t based on campaign literature, political affiliation or a few conversations during election season.
- Those relationships weren’t created for a campaign — they were built over decades of living here, working here and serving the people who call Eagle County home.
- The pilot of a glider involved in a midair collision in the skies above New York’s Saratoga County on Friday was found dead following a search for wreckage, New York State Police said.
- The discovery was made after state police, New York State Forest Rangers, and the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office found debris in a remote area in Edinburg, police said in a statement.
- The crash prompted a sizable response from area first responders, according to Broadcastify radio traffic from the Saratoga County Fire and EMS.
- Edinburg, a town of a little more than 1,300, is located in Saratoga County and is about 54 miles northwest of Albany.
- “Whatever one believes about the just enforcement of our nation’s laws, no person of faith can look upon this kind of suffering with indifference,” he said.
- “I do not write to make a political statement, nor is it the place of a Bishop to dictate the particulars of civil policy that belong properly to lawmakers and to citizens acting according to their conscience,” he said.
- “But I write as a pastor who cannot remain silent while members of our human family are suffering, while families are separated, and while fear has entered our schools, our workplaces, and our streets,” Caggiano said.
- “To our immigrant brothers and sisters throughout Fairfield County, whether or not you are Catholic, whether or not you have ever set foot in one of our parishes, please know that the Church stands with you,” he said.