Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Today the Church in the United States celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548), an Indian convert, to whom the Virgin Mary appeared as he was going to Mass in Tlatlelolco, Mexico. Our Lady asked him to tell the Bishop that she desired a shrine to be built on the spot to manifest her love for all mankind. She left a marvelous portrait of herself on the mantle of Juan Diego as a sign for the Bishop. This miraculous image has proved to be ageless, and is kept in the shrine built in her honor, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas.

A pastor in the Boston archdiocese has declined to remove an sign protesting Trump immigration policy from a Nativity display, despite a rebuke from the archdiocese.

The figures of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are no longer visible in the Nativity display outside St. Susannah’s church in Dedham, Massachusetts; instead passersby see a sign: “ICE was here”—a reference to immigration-enforcement agents. Father Stephen Josoma said that the display was intended to provoke reactions, like any work of art.

The Boston archdiocese has issued a statement decrying the “divisive political messaging” in the Nativity display. The statement read: “The display should be removed, and the manger restored to its proper sacred purpose.”

But the parish has not followed that directive. Father Josoma said that he is “waiting for an opportunity to dialogue and clarify” with Boston’s Archbishop Richard Henning before taking any action.

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Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the solemn dogma defined by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854. As Our Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness of the United States of America, this is a holy day of obligation in the United States.