By The archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bernard Hebda, said “we must rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters.”
Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis asked for prayer for Alex Jeffrey Pretti, for his parents, and for his loved ones after federal agents shot and killed him.
Hebda had similarly called for healing after Renee Good, a mother of three, was fatally shot and killed earlier this month by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. Federal immigration officers shot and killed Pretti in Minneapolis Jan. 24, another death linked to the Trump administration’s escalated immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities that is being undertaken by thousands of heavily armed federal agents.
“The loss of another life amidst the tensions that have gripped Minnesota should prompt all of us to ask what we can do to restore the Lord’s peace. While we rightly thirst for God’s justice and hunger for his peace, this will be not be achieved until we are able to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God. That is as true for our undocumented neighbors as it is for our elected officials and for the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws,” Hebda wrote. “They all need our humble prayers.”
The archbishop also wrote a Jan. 20 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that called for meaningful immigration reform.
“If recent events in Minnesota have clarified anything, it’s that we can no longer put off the hard work of immigration reform. Each year of inaction has made the debate louder, angrier and less humane,” Hebda wrote in the op-ed. “A difficult policy discussion has hardened into a cultural and political battleground. It’s playing out on the streets here, where federal immigration officers are clashing with protesters.”
Hebda wrote, “As a pastor, I see the human cost on all sides.”
Hebda said he would offer a Votive Mass for the Preservation of Peace at the Cathedral of St. Paul Jan. 25. At the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, a Sunday evening Mass is set to be offered for Pretti, his family, and for the Twin Cities community.
“Wherever you find yourself this afternoon, I hope you will take a few moments to join us in prayer,” Hebda said in a statement.
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