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  1. #1

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    Rancho Passion play Illustrates a migrant's journey

    http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3712949
    By Kelly Rush, Staff Writer

    At Our Lady of Mount Carmel, parishioners acted out the story of Jesus' crucifixion and death in a bilingual service by comparing Jesus to an illegal immigrant.

    The play opened with a man dressed in jeans and a straw hat, with a backpack and a gourd of water standing in front of a wooden cross. A woman and her three children stood to his side.

    The re-enactment was an adaptation of the Catholic practice of meditating on the Seven Last Words of Christ during the Lenten season.

    Ralph Alcantar, who narrated the story, said he knows the church's portrayal of Jesus is a controversial one.

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    "We're trying to stir things up -- we're trying to make people think," he said.

    The Seven Words took on a different meaning for the audience, some of whom are immigrants or who have family members who emigrated from Mexico.

    The immigrant portraying Jesus standing before the cross spoke the first word, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

    Taking the microphone at the front of the stage, Alcantar said immigrants, as they begin their journey toward America, literally place their fate into God's hands.

    On stage, Miguel Cruz and Antonio Lubeno, 16, who played immigrants, walked toward their mother to be blessed before setting out on their journey.

    They passed a small white cross planted in a pot of cacti, rocks on either side, with the word "unknown," written on it as they walked away.

    Jesus then spoke the second word, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." The immigrant boys were standing at a table on stage, laden with a feast, but they're not eating.

    Alcantar said the immigrant sees paradise when he reaches the border: a land of opportunity.

    "They think it will be a better life, but is it?" he asked. "There's discrimination, low wages. Politicians want to call them criminals. It's something to reflect on."

    As the play continued, the immigrants hid behind a rock, trying to escape the Border Patrol. They experienced hunger and thirst, like Jesus thirsted while hanging on the cross, and felt forsaken when a coyote abandoned them in the desert.

    A rope was then threaded through the congregation, separating mothers from children and husbands from wives. The rope symbolized the U.S.-Mexico border, which separates families, Alcantar said.

    "The immigrant doesn't know what future he will face without his support," he said. "As we reflect on Good Friday, think about those who are separated, not knowing if loved ones have survived. Keep them in our prayers."

    The Jesus immigrant then spoke his last word, "it is finished."

    A woman took a piece of paper that had "important information about immigration" written in Spanish.

    She walked down the aisle of the church, ripping the paper into shreds. Alcantar exhorted the parishioners not to let the issue of immigration reform die, to call and write their Congressmen urging just and humane laws.

    After the play, audience members were invited to approach the stage and share their personal journeys of immigration or explain how the service affected them.

    One man, who came to the United States when he was 16, said he earned dismal wages and the scorn of American citizens. Others said they worried about their family members, who were crossing.

    Arline Bustamante said her parents taught her to care about migrants from an early age. Her father emigrated from Mexico.

    "I'm really grateful to my parents for showing me that respect," she said.

    She told audience members to use their buying power to boycott companies with what she called unjust stances on immigration and radio stations with "militant" anti-immigration sentiments.

    "We don't want to help them monetarily, and that's where it hurts," she said
    "We have room for but one flag, the American flag" - Theodore Roosevelt

  2. #2
    Senior Member crazybird's Avatar
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    Don't know whether to laugh or cry. I just know there are the 10 commandments, so obviously even a greater power knew rules were necessary. I know he said to obey the laws of the land too. I know he set laws for the Jewish people to follow, which many follow that aren't Jewish because they made sense for disease control among other things. But to compare their plight to Jesus is as wrong as it is to compare their plight to the civil rights movement.
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  3. #3

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    crazybird,
    I spent about 5 minutes reading this article before I realized it was actually true.
    To me, this is a slap in the face of every Christian. Are they desperate, or what?
    "We have room for but one flag, the American flag" - Theodore Roosevelt

  4. #4
    Senior Member crazybird's Avatar
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    Yep......now we should start it's "for the sake of the children" routien in force. They are with college tuition.....but it's not quite heartwrenching enough. As if there aren't enough heartwrenching stories of our own legal citizens that are going ignored. But no...it's an outrage to compare this plight to Jesus.
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  5. #5
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    just disgusting.. even my catholic gf is sick of this.

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