Thread: Priest walks tightrope in divided Waukegan -video

Waukegan in the news again! Here is also a video link to another story. An illegal alien, Mr. Flores, says he was profiled. See article in the alipac news today.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video


www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspap ... 4963.story

chicagotribune.com
Priest walks tightrope in divided Waukegan
Pastor sees his role as peacemaker in a city where emotions run high over immigration
By Margaret Ramirez and Andrew L. Wang

Tribune staff reporters

July 31, 2007

The overflowing crowd of babies in christening dresses and tiny white tuxedos filled Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Waukegan as Rev. Gary Graf approached the baptismal font.

As two deacons poured holy water over the babies two at a time, Graf dried their heads and sealed the baptisms with a kiss. By the end of two hours Graf had baptized Melvin Bahena, Alexandra Orihuela, Enrique Villa and dozens of others -- 72 children in all.

As pastor of more than 5,000 families, most of them Latino, at three parishes in Waukegan and North Chicago, Graf is a central figure in the lives of the immigrants who are transforming this industrial city and its Catholic churches.

But his role as a spiritual leader also has pushed Graf to the center of the nation's volatile debate over controlling illegal immigration, a battle that flared this summer after Waukegan sought to give local police the power to deport immigrants accused of serious crimes.

Graf, a charismatic priest raised by German and Irish immigrants, embodies the dilemma behind the issue, confronting resentment toward immigrants while still showing compassion for their plight. In searching for a peaceful middle ground, the priest has been attacked by one side as "anti-American" and the other as a "Judas."

With the battle lines drawn, Graf chose conversation over confrontation.

"What's missing here is some a sort of healthy, sane dialogue," he said. "Now that the measure passed, how are we going to live together? There's so much finger-pointing and it's become the church's role to figure this out."

Graf said he sees his role -- and that of his new three-church community -- as the key to bringing the opposing sides together to transform ignorance into understanding.

"Through all this is what Jesus said: "You love the sinner but hate the sin," said Graf, 49. "What is the sin in all this? Is it good that people risk their lives to cross the border and come here? No. Is it good that people are taken advantage of and paid low wages? No.

"In the midst of that, should the church be silent?" he asked. "Hell, no."

Graf's outlook on immigration stems from his childhood in a segregated Chicago suburb and his early years as a priest ministering to poor Mexican villages.

"I think the blessing for me is having lived in a small town in Mexico and seeing what drives people north and what provokes them to leave their family...Because of that, I really believe that God is with them."

In Waukegan, anti-immigrant sentiment had been bubbling for decades as a largely white, working-class majority gradually became supplanted by Mexican immigrants, most of them from the states of Michoacan and Guerrero.

Tensions reached a boiling point after the City Council voted in early June to pursue a controversial federal program known as 287(g) that would give local police the power to perform some immigration duties. Holy Family parishioners called the church in a panic, fearing mass deportations and raids.

Graf spoke from the pulpit and in public against the police measure, saying it would lead to racial profiling and heighten fear and tensions in the community. The priest pleaded for dialogue and invited the mayor to a church meeting on June 27 to reconsider the program.

Though the mayor refused to back down, he signed pledges that police would use the authority only to prosecute major felonies "such as murder, child abuse and rape." He also said the city would not deport unlicensed drivers, engage in racial profiling or condone raids.

Graf saw the meeting as productive. Latino activists disagreed, labeling the priest as a Judas for not being more aggressive and for negotiating with the mayor.

Then, when activists organized a protest this month before a crucial council vote to reconsider the measure, Graf urged his parishioners to avoid the demonstration and attend an outdoor mass instead for fear the protest would turn violent.

"He obviously refused to participate," said Lilia Paredes, an organizer for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. "I believe that he has a different style. ...His belief of organizing the community is to keep them inside praying."

Graf argues that his church's presence would have aggravated the situation.

"All I know is that to encourage them to continue to protest, at this point, is not helping," he said. "They were saying that I was negotiating with the mayor and agreeing with him. It's not that I'm agreeing with him. It's that I'm acknowledging the reality. He's the mayor and I'm a priest in this community. Somehow we have to find a way to live together, so this doesn't get to a point where we have race riots."

Meanwhile, those in Waukegan who support 287(g) chided Graf as anti-American. Local radio host Fred Flannigan, who has called Graf a Marxist on his program, is among critics who believe the priest is misguided.

"The work he does may be very good," Flannigan said. "But how come he never considers the other side of the equation? How come he never talks about the damage done by illegals?"

Immigration tensions have even spilled into efforts to reorganize the three local parishes under Graf's leadership. The new arrangement, formed in response to a priest shortage, will allow Holy Family, Immaculate Conception and Queen of Peace to share resources while operating out of one church office.

As the parishes were consolidated, some longtime white church members bristled when Latinos were given leadership roles.

But other parishioners defend their pastor, who they believe made the ultimate sacrifice in 2002 when he donated part of his liver to a sick parishioner, an immigrant.

John Balen, a longtime Holy Family church member and Waukegan alderman, said he disagrees with Graf on immigration but believes the priest deserves respect.

"The pastor of my church has been vilified," he said. "This is the good pastor and the good shepherd who gave a part of his liver to keep one of his flock alive. And here we are, abusing this man, who is doing his job. You may not like what he's doing, but he's doing his job.

"He's a good priest," Balen said. "That kind of man can't be vilified."

Carmen Patlan, director of human concerns at Holy Family, said most parishioners agree with Graf's conciliatory approach.

"Father Gary has a huge purpose in this community. He's demonstrated his loyalty to us time and again. He would give his life for us," said Patlan. "A lot of the activists came in and really confused people and wanted him to pick sides. ...But, he didn't pick a side. He picked his people."

Born in 1958 as the second of six children, Graf attended Queen of Martyrs Church in Evergreen Park and said he knew early, at age 8, that he wanted to be a priest. During his second year of seminary, Graf traveled to Panama and other parts of Central America and said he felt a connection to the church he had never felt before.

After his ordination in 1984, he was assigned to Maternity Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Humboldt Park, then transferred to Mexico to minister to villages in the state of Guerrero. Six years after leaving Mexico in 1989, he was assigned to Holy Family with a better understanding of his mission.

At Holy Family, Graf seems more like a family member than a priest as he works the crowd, patting men on the back, greeting others with kisses on the cheek and touching children lightly on their faces.

"They love him. When he is with them, you can feel that presence of God," said Said Guerra, the church's director of spiritual life. "When they need him, the people here seek him out and sometimes just by seeing him they say they feel better."

When asked about white church members who feel abandoned, Graf expresses concern.

"It's difficult because these younger Latino families are now the majority and they have more need," he said. "When I was young, growing up, the church gave my family more attention because we were the ones in need. Now, the situation is different and people don't understand that."

Graf said the challenge now is to push his Latino parishioners to become more integrated into American society.

"They demand much from me, so now it's time for me to demand from them," Graf said. "A lot of them send money back home. But it's time to start contributing to Waukegan and becoming more active members of this society."

The churchs really need to stay out of this. This is not a religious argument. I don't think they should make it one.

Originally Posted by Paige

The churchs really need to stay out of this. This is not a religious argument. I don't think they should make it one.

Either that or they should decline exempt status. You can't ride two donkeys with one ass.

Mr.Flores should be shot back over the border out of a cannon.