By bus from across the country and on foot from across town, an estimated 200,000 people flocked to the National Mall March 21 to press Congress and the president — with signs, banners, T-shirts, chants and prayers — to make good on promises to fix the immigration system.
U.S. citizens, legal immigrants and some who admitted they are in the country illegally covered a six-block stretch of the Mall to make their case for reforming a system that keeps families apart, limits students’ education prospects and causes millions of people to exist “in the shadows,” because they lack legal papers.
Before marching three miles past the Capitol to RFK Stadium, where their buses waited, the exuberant, hopeful crowd waved flags and signs as dozens of speakers took to the stage to tell their personal immigration stories. Other speakers pledged the support of their churches, unions and human rights groups.
TEC has reasons why the faithful are leaving in droves (well-described on this blog). I sang in a Roman Catholic choir until recently (locally, and for the diocese). But I left, due to the increasing ethnic politics of the church in California. It seems that it has simply become a vehicle for Mexican immigration, rather than a religion. Most recently, the diocese (which has a bishop of Mexican ancestry) took up a fund raiser for, among other things, the benefit of legalizing the illegal immigrants.
There are already separate English and Spanish masses. The way things are going, the only ones at the English mass will be refugees from TEC.