As Archbishop Gomez argues, it is Catholics who “have a special duty today to be the guardians of the truth about the American spirit and our national identity.” In fact, Archbishop Gomez argues, immigrant Catholics “without proper documentation,” who share the values of “faith, family, and community” are “the key to American renewal.” Yes, Archbishop Gomez is arguing that unauthorized immigrants not only deserve the chance to adjust their status to live legally in the United States, but also hold the promise of a renewed and reinvigorated “next America.”
Marie Friedmann Marquardt
Marie Friedmann Marquardt is a Scholar-in-Residence at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. She is co-author of Living “Illegal”: The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration (New Press, 2011) and Globalizing the Sacred: Religion Across the Americas (Rutgers UP, 2003).
