by

STILL CRITICAL

INTRODUCTION

Eight years ago this week, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, posted a strongly worded statement on his weekly blog about the federal government’s policy of separating immigrant parents from their children. In a brief introduction, he wrote: “I issued this statement because I felt strongly that what is happening is unacceptable and that we need to protest the way these families are being treated.

Eight years later, Cardinal Sean’s statement is more relevant than ever. ProPublica and The Guardian, both non-profit news organizations, reported that since January 2025, more than 100,000 children have been separated from at least one parent by federal immigration authorities. More than one-third of these children are younger than six years old. And earlier this year, The Children’s Equity Project released a deeply troubling report called The Scars of Family Detention & Separation in the United States Immigration System. Click here to read their report.

At this still critical moral juncture in the history of our nation and the wider world, let us reflect on Cardinal Sean’s prophetic witness as we pray for all immigrants, migrants, and refugees. Let us prayerfully considers ways that we can support immigrant parents and their precious children. And let us pray for all faith and civic leaders: that they may act in God’s style of closeness, compassion, and tenderness toward all peoples, from all places, and from all walks of life.

A CRITICAL MORAL JUNCTURE

By Cardinal Sean O’Malley

Immigration policy presents many challenges for our country. Developing sound immigration policy that respects the needs of a nation and those of the international community is a complex and challenging process. It always involves reconciling domestic priorities and global demands, strategy and tactics, objectives and means. At its core, immigration policy is about people, young and old, alone or in families, often fearful and abandoned. Immigration policy is a moral question that cannot be separated from decisions of what is right and wrong, of justice and injustice. It is about respecting and reverencing the dignity of the human person.

In the year 2018, the moral challenge of immigration is mounting for the United States. On too many occasions, our government has taken a posture and established a policy which is in principle and practice hostile to children and families who are fleeing violence, gangs, and poverty. The policies have included limiting the number of refugees and immigrants we are willing to welcome in our country, ending temporary protected status for families who are here, and refusing to restore DACA protection for those who have been among us for all or most of their lives. In the face of today’s global immigration crisis, these choices fail to communicate a willingness to address the reality of widespread human suffering, and in many cases imminent danger, with compassion and care.

The cumulative effect of these policy decisions has now reached a critical moral juncture: by the order of the United States government, individuals with children and families with children who are seeking asylum at the southern border of the United States now have their children separated from their parents. The intent of this policy is clear: to discourage those seeking asylum by severing the most sacred bond of parent and child.

Children are now being used as a deterrent against immigrants who are appealing to us for asylum in order to protect themselves and their families. As disturbing as this fact is, the narrative of this development makes clear the misguided moral logic of the policy. These individuals and families are fleeing documented violence, chaos, and murder in the neighborhoods of Central America. The United States is now openly before the world using children as pawns to enforce hostile immigration policy. This strategy is morally unacceptable and denies the clear danger weighing upon those seeking our assistance. As a Catholic bishop, I support political and legal authority. I have always taught respect for the civil law and will continue to do so. But I cannot be silent when our country’s immigration policy destroys families, traumatizes parents, and terrorizes children. The harmful and unjust policy of separating children from their parents must be ended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

His Eminence Sean Patrick O’Malley served as Cardinal Archbishop of Boston from 2003 until 2024. Cardinal Sean is a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Under Pope Francis (1936-2025), he served on the Council of Cardinal Advisers. Cardinal Sean holds a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese Literature from the Catholic University of America. In addition to English, Spanish, and Portuguese, he also speaks French, German, Latin, Italian, and Haitian Creole. Needless to say, Cardinal Sean is also longtime advocate for migrants, immigrants, and refugees. He still lives in Boston and maintains his popular blog.

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THE ASSISI PROJECT
A FELLOWSHIP OF FRANCISCANS IN SPIRIT
INTERCESSORY PRAYER MINISTRY

Members of the Assisi Project, ranging in age from 18 to 102, pray each and every day for all who ask for our prayers. If you would like our fellowship to pray for you or your special intention, please contact Brother Patrick at brpatrick@assisiproject.com. In communion with Pope Leo XIV and in solidarity with people of faith and goodwill everywhere, we also pray for peace, truth, and justice. In addition, we pray for all migrants and refugees; for the courage to speak truth to power; and for the poor, the persecuted, and the unjustly imprisoned. Please join us in prayer by clicking the link below! Thank you for your prayers! May God bless you! May the Risen Lord give you peace!

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ABOUT US

Founded in 2007, the Assisi Project is a Fellowship of Franciscans in Spirit with friends and followers throughout the world. We are dedicated to helping Christian believers of all ages more faithfully live the Gospel of Christ in the spirit of Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi. We are also dedicated to promoting a devotion to Pope Francis (1936-2025) as a patron of peace, mercy, and fraternity in our sick and suffering world.

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