Faith in the Darkness: Part Three

This is the third installment of a series on immigrants in the Diocese of Savannah.

by Dana Clark Felty

Ed Sienkiewicz, Jr. can’t help but think about his own grandparents when talking about immigration.

From his mother’s side, they came from Italy.  From his father’s side, they came from Poland.  Both immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century by following the appropriate – though time consuming – legal channels to citizenship.

“I’ve always had a touch of a heartburn about the illegal immigrants who you see on the news coming across the borders in the dark of night,” said Sienkiewicz, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

“I was hoping the U.S. would do things on the federal level to curb and maybe even completely stop illegal immigration.  Maybe we go back to the way it was in the early 1900s where you had an Ellis-Island type of pathway for folks who are cued to come in legally as U.S. Citizens or to come in with legal work visas.”

Sienkiewicz is a life-long, devout Catholic and just one of the many in the Diocese of Savannah who approves of the state’s efforts to curb illegal immigration, according to Father Pablo Migone.

“There are a lot of Catholics with very strong feelings about this issue and not all of the mare in line with what the church says,” said Migone, parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Church, Warner Robins.

“It’s easier to get people on board on the church’s anti-abortion stance.  When it comes to immigration, it’s not as easy to espouse what the church teaches on this issue.”