Editor ’ s Notes
Beacons , Not Barriers by Fr . Richard Bayuk , c . pp . s ., Editor
you have to understand , that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land — from Home , by Warsan Shire
President Ronald Reagan , in his farewell address to the nation in January 1989 , concluded his remarks with these often-quoted words : “ The past few days … I ' ve thought a bit of the shining ‘ city upon a hill .’ The phrase comes from John Winthrop , who wrote it to describe the America he imagined . What he imagined was important , because he was an early Pilgrim , and early freedom man . He journeyed here on what today we ' d call a little wooden boat ; and like the other Pilgrims , he was looking for a home that would be free .
I ' ve spoken of the shining city all my political life , but I don ' t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it . But in my mind , it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans , wind-swept , God-blessed , and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace ; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity . And if there had to be city walls , the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here .…
And how stands the city on this winter night ? More prosperous , more secure and happier than it was eight years ago . But more than that : after 200 years , two centuries , she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge , and her glow has held steady no matter what storm . And she ' s still a beacon , still a magnet for all who must have freedom , for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness , toward home ” [ italics mine ].
Well … that was then , this is now . In sharp contrast , the current president has used the following dehumanizing terms to describe ( non-white ) immigrants : rapists , murderers , thieves , invaders , animals , breeders , infestation . His administration initiated a zero-tolerance policy which included forced family separation , meant as a deterrent . A policy that is purposefully cruel and mean — and morally offensive and repugnant . Babies taken from mothers ’ arms ( some of them nursing ), sobbing children placed in prison camp-like conditions or loaded on buses under the cover of darkness and shipped around the country . Parents being deported back to the countries they fled without being reunited with their children . continued on page 5
2 • The New Wine Press • July 2018