"What! A guy named Jesus?!"

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good publishes a weekly media report, in which I always find interesting kernals of news from around the country. This one, however, was just plain fun. Of course, it pokes fun at Arizona, but hey, they're the ones who shot themselves in the foot, not me. The story was posted by the Washington Post, dated June 2nd. The writer is Fr. Thomas Reese, who used to be the editor for America magazine, and the piece is entitled "Jesus in Arizona."

THIS CATHOLIC'S VIEW
By Thomas J. Reese, S.J.
"This is 911. What is your emergency?"
"Someone is trying to break into my house."
"What is your address?"
"1234 Palm Street in Phoenix."
"Let me check for an available officer. Let's see, I can have someone come by tomorrow between 9 a.m. and noon."
"What? But this is an emergency."
"I'm sorry, but all of our officers are busy with priority calls."
"What takes priority over a burglary?"
"Illegal immigrants."
"You've got to be kidding!"
"No, under the new state law, police officers can be sued if they do not go after illegal immigrants so that is now our number one priority. We don't want to be sued."
"But what about me?"
"Oh, you can't sue if your house is burgled. That's why you are a lower priority."
"But I might get killed."
"Well, if you are dead, you can't sue either."
"Isn't there anything you can do for me?"
"Well, have you seen the burglars?"
"No, I'm hiding in the closet."
"That's too bad, because if they were brown, I could send someone right away."
"Jesus!"
"Did you say, 'Jesus'?"
"Yes, I said, 'Jesus!'"
"Well, if there is a Jesus in your house, that makes you a priority call. There is a high probability that he is an illegal. Sorry, got to go, there is a call on our immigration hotline." Click.
The caller punches the redial button.
"This is 911. What is your emergency?"
"There is a brown guy named Jesus trying to break into my house."
"Don't worry, we will be there right away."
"Oh, thank God."
"You betcha. We are here to serve and protect."
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., is a Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University.

I wonder if the voters in Arizona ever visited the Statue of Liberty. If so, I wonder what they thought of words of that famous sonnet on the plaque mounted inside the pedestal. It's by Emma Lazarus, entitled The New Colossus, and includes these words:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I'll be out of town on the weekend of the 4th of July, so I'm not doing the homily that weekend. But if I were, I'd weave that poem into my homily.