TO  WHOM IT CONCERNS -

THAT IS ALL OF US

[I am still receiving negative comments from our parishioners about my homily on January 14th.  There have been letters of support as well.  That was not my goal in any shape or form. I was objecting to the comments I heard about Haiti and Africa - as well as the comments made about Republicans.  I left out comments about democrats in my homily.

[I said loud and clear that I was not addressing comments made as politics - but as morality.  I actually figured out beforehand that could happen, so I addressed that loud and clear in my homily.  Wow was I right. 

[Then the letter right below this introduction came from Redemptorists in our San Juan Province. 

[For those who sent both anonymous letters and signed letters, read this letter and please realize I'm not being political. I'm being a Christian - and I hope you will be as well. Amen]

January 17, 2018

Mr. Donald J. Trump

President of the United States

White House

Washington, DC

Mr. President:

We are a group of Catholic Missionaries from the Congregation of the Redemptorists, Members of the San Juan Province which includes Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

We are writing to you with the purpose of commenting on the negative impact of the derogatory words you used on Thursday, January 11, 2018 in the presence of some members of the U.S. Congress, describing Haiti, El Salvador and poor countries in Africa as "Shithole Countries".

The call of our Congregation is to evangelize to the poor, and this includes proclaiming the Gospel explicitly, in solidarity and promoting the fundamental rights of freedom and justice for the needy.

The love of our mission urged our brothers from Spain and United States to serve in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic for a hundred years. That same love has led us to serve those people you despise, in Africa, Haiti and El Salvador. That mission and that service has enriched and blessed us abundantly.

Faithfulness to our call to be witnesses of the Redeemer in a broken world, is the reason we denounce your words as unjust, offensive and derogatory, we reject those words because they disfigure the image and dignity of men and women created in the image and likeness of God.

We reject your words which contradict the Gospel of Jesus Christ who saw the poor with respect and dignity. “Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God”. (Luke 6:1)

Mr. President, on this eve of the Birth of Rev. Martin Luther King, Activist of the Equal Rights Movement and the Constitutional rights of all people, your words injure the hearts of those of us Americans who believe in the Constitution of the United States which affirms “All men are created equal”.

Mr. President, on the 8^th anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, which is still mourning the 200, 000 of its people who died, you spit on the sensitivity of its people.  A country who sent 800 of its soldiers to fight for the independence of the United States. 

If it is true that their expressions darken the horizon and sow anxiety in the feelings of our people, then we are encouraged by the words of Pope John Paul II to African-Americans on October 13, 1992 in Santo Domingo "I cannot leave out my message of closeness and avid affection to the population of African-Americans that with their human and Christian values and culture enrich the Church and society in so many different countries. To this purpose, come to my mind those words of Simón Bolívar stating that "America is the result of the union of Europe and Africa with Aboriginal elements. "That do not fit the prejudices of racism and if they did, America would go back to primitive chaos".

We conclude with the words of Jesus “when you are hated, excluded, insulted, and despise your name because of the son of man "Rejoice and be filled with joy, because the reward in heaven is abundant." (Luke 6:22).

Attentively,

Redemptorist Missionaries of the San Juan Province.