AUGUST 14, 2020
mississippicatholic.com
On year later those affected by ICE raid still struggle By Berta MeXidor King
and
Joanna Puddister
JACKSON – On Aug. 7, 2019 at least four Catholic parishes were shaken after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided chicken processing plants across the state, arresting 680 undocumented workers. The day left many children in fear and pain on their first day of school, as they were left with no place to go with their families taken from them. As some were released from ICE custody to care for their children, a new reality set in. The loss of income, along with an unforeseeable future and questions on how their families may survive without loved ones in ICE custody. About seven months later, between court appearances, possible deportation, and legal incertitude, pain for these communities came again, now in the form of an illness affecting everyone without discrimination of legal status. But for the families of affected families in Canton, Forest, Morton, and Carthage, the fear of COVID-19 was less than the fear for immigration officials. Hundreds have gotten sick, and friends and family members have died due to COVID-19. Many undocumented immigrants are avoiding tests and hospitals regardless of the authorities' promises of not to check legal status during medical tests due to the immense fear the ICE raids caused. The situation is not localized only to Mississippi, but around the country too. Several of the famCANTON – Even today, children are still worried about their parents being taken from them by ICE. Last year ilies affected by the raids migrated to other states after the initial ICE raids across the state, children of undocumented immigrants held a rally on the historic – Continued on page 16 – Canton square on Aug. 11, 2019. (Photo of by Joanna Puddister King)
Loyola University Maryland removes Flannery O'Connor's name from hall By george P. MatyseK, Jr
The priest noted some of the new disclosures about O'Connor's use of racist language date to the 1940s when she was a teenager. "They don't take into account any evolution in her thinking," he said. The priest still felt the need to be sensitive to concerns, especially from students, about O'Connor's use of racist language and an admission in her correspondence that she did not like people of color. "A residence hall is supposed to be the students' home," Father Linnane said. "If some of the students who
BALTIMORE (CNS) – Thirteen years after naming a new residence hall at Loyola University Maryland in honor of the Catholic author Flannery O'Connor, Jesuit Father Brian Linnane, the university's president, removed the writer's name from the building. The structure will now be known as "Thea Bowman Hall," in honor of the first African American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Sister Thea, a Mississippi native, was a tireless advocate for greater leadership roles for Blacks in the Catholic Church and for incorporating African American culture and spiritual traditions in Catholic worship in the latter half of the 20th century. Her sainthood cause is under consideration in Rome. O'Connor, a Southern Gothic writer who died of lupus in 1964 at age 39, is recognized as one of the greatest short-story writers of her era, one whose work often examined complex moral INSIDE THIS WEEK questions. Concerns about her use of racist language in private correspondence prompted more than 1,000 people to sign an online petition asking Loyola to rename the residence hall. Father Linnane said it was a difficult decision and that the issue of O'Connor and race is very nuanced. "I am not a scholar of Flannery O'Connor, but I have studied her fiction and non-fiction writings," he told the Catholic Review, Baltimore's archdiocesan news outlet. Vocations 4 "Particularly in her fiction, the dignity of African AmeriMeet seminarian Will Fogcan persons and their worth is consistently upheld, with the bigots being the object of ridicule." go of St. Paul Flowood.
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