In the News: Pastor’s Opinion on Immigrant Policy in Online Washington Post

In a Guest Voices: Other Views on Faith and Its Impact on the News posting (6/10/09) to the Washington Post Web site, the Rev. Kathleen Blaner of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Kensington, Maryland, writes,

The name St. Dysmas comes from the traditional reference to the repentant thief crucified with Jesus. The Community of St. Dysmas is an ELCA congregation operating within the Maryland correctional system. Learn more at www.stdysmasmd.org.

“A good pastor treats an illegal immigrant in jail for getting drunk and being on the wrong end of a fist no differently than the pastor would treat the most important political official on earth. We take vows to tell Manuel from Peru, locked in a jail cell and about to be deported, to stop drinking and fighting. Those same vows make it our sacred duty to tell the President of the United States when he’s not loving his immigrant brother as much as he loves God, himself, and others.”

The full text of “St. Dysmas Didn’t Need a Green Card” can be found on the Washington Post forum. It contains more of Pr. Blaner’s perspective on President Obama’s support of “Secure Communities.”