Responding to the Executive Order on Immigration

January 31, 2017

 

Dear Saint John’s Community,

 

I am writing to you in response to Friday’s executive order, which both directly and indirectly impacted our Saint John’s family.  As you may know, on Friday, President Trump signed an executive order suspending entry to the United States by citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen and severely restricting refugee admission to the country (temporarily for some and indefinitely for Syrian refugees).  Currently, that executive order is being challenged in the court system, but the resolution to that may be weeks or months away.

 

Today, we cannot be sure of the implications of that executive order on members of the Saint John’s community—but all members of the Saint John’s community can be sure of our care and support.  Saint John’s High School, like many Catholic schools in our community and around our country, was founded in part to serve immigrants and refugees and those who would become first generation Americans.  Even though the countries of origin of our students may constantly change, our own mission statement speaks explicitly of our awareness of the “interdependence” of individuals and of our commitment to “respect and appreciation for individual differences and those who comprise the larger community,” and further, “commitment to providing opportunities to families in need, to the marginalized, and the poor.”  Past and present sons of Saint John’s trace their family lineage to many nations, cultures, and ethnicities on every continent; and past and present sons of Saint John’s serve their families, neighbors, communities, cultures, and nations to the best of their ability.  They do us and their families proud.  Sons of Saint John’s serve in the military and intelligence communities at home and abroad, working for safety and peace.  Sons of Saint John’s also serve in the Peace Corps and in education, medicine, and social welfare at home and abroad, working for safety and peace.

 

In 2001, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity, wherein they stated, “The Church supports the human rights of all people and offers them pastoral care, education, and social services, no matter what the circumstances…, and it works for the respect of the human dignity of all, especially those who find themselves in desperate circumstances.”  Given our history, heritage, and mission as a Xaverian Brothers Catholic community, Saint John’s High School has been steadfast in welcoming and serving generations of immigrants since its founding in 1898; and so again today, we find ourselves called to keep our mission in focus, to discern what it means at this time to “welcome the stranger among us.” Like all Catholic communities, we are called to “go work in the vineyard,” (Matthew 20:3) to work for justice where, as our friend and Lord Jesus tells us, we will be known by the fruits of our labor. 

 

As the implications of President Trump’s executive order on immigration continue to unfold in the days and weeks ahead, all Saint John’s students, families, and alumni will be equally valued by our faculty, staff, and administration.  In classrooms, in our halls and on our fields, as we come to our lunch tables and the altar, in prayer and liturgy, in formal reflection and informal conversation, the question of how we treat our neighbor, whether near or far, will be at the forefront of much of our work—as it always has been, and should be, in a Christian community.  I invite and welcome you to reach out and contact us if there is any way that you believe we can better serve our students and the broader community.

 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Alex Zequeira, P'19

Headmaster