Catholic diocese sues US government, worried some foreign-born priests might be forced to leave

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Catholic diocese sues US government, worried some foreign-born priests might be forced to leave

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO
Updated 11:46 AM EDT, August 31, 2024

For more than a year, religious organizations have lobbied Congress and the Biden administration to fix a sudden procedural change in how the government processes green cards for religious workers, which threatens the ability of thousands of them to continue to minister in the United States.

The Catholic Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, and five of its priests whose legal status in the United States expires as soon as next spring, have now sued the federal agencies overseeing immigration. They argue that the change “will cause severe and substantial disruption to the lives and religious freedoms” of the priests as well as the hundreds of thousands of Catholics they serve.

“Our priests feel we’re doing the best we can,” said Bishop Kevin Sweeney, whose dioceses covers 400,000 Catholics and 107 parishes in three New Jersey counties.

Paterson is the first diocese to bring this suit against the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Raymond Lahoud, its attorney in the lawsuit.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/catholic-clergy-foreign-priests-immigration-lawsuit-9df42bd81b95ca8abf59039d0e461edc

[Freethinker65]

1. Catholic Church needs to import priests to do the job?

I can understand moving priests around to different parishes/congregations, even to foreign countries, but why should they get an immigration exception to overstay?

[Eugene]

2. Specially trained and skilled workers where there is a labor shortage.

The Roman Catholic Church has a long-running shortage of priests,
both in the U.S. and worldwide. Declining number of priests
serving growing populations.

Second, believe it or not, the U.S. and Canada are considered needy
of missionary work. Underserved flock or stray sheep, take your pick.