Boston-area pastor refuses to remove anti-ICE Nativity scene, seeks meeting with archbishop

[Michie]

The pastor of a Catholic parish near Boston says an anti-immigration-enforcement display in its Nativity scene will stay up at least for the time being, and he is asking for a meeting with the archbishop.

The announcement Monday night — more than three days after the Archdiocese of Boston said the display should be removed — leaves the parish and Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston at an impasse.

“We are waiting for an opportunity of dialogue and clarity with [Arch]bishop Henning before reaching any final decisions,” Father Stephen Josoma said, according to a video of a press conference published by MassLive.com.

The display, put up Nov. 29 outside St. Susanna Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, includes a large sign saying “ICE Was Here” and another sign explaining that the absent figures of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are safe inside the church building. The display also includes a telephone number to report the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs agents to an organization that monitors them.

A spokesman for Archbishop Henning on Friday described the display as inappropriate and said it should be removed.

“The people of God have the right to expect that, when they come to church, they will encounter genuine opportunities for prayer and Catholic worship — not divisive political messaging. The Church’s norms prohibit the use of sacred objects for any purpose other than the devotion of God’s people. This includes images of the Christ Child in the manger, which are to be used solely to foster faith and devotion,” said Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, by email.

“Regarding the recent incident, St. Susanna Parish neither requested nor received permission from the Archdiocese to depart from this canonical norm or to place a politically divisive display outside the church. The display should be removed, and the manger restored to its proper sacred purpose,” Donilon said Friday.

Father Josoma’s stance​

Continued below.

Boston-area pastor refuses to remove anti-ICE Nativity scene

The pastor of a Catholic parish near Boston says an anti-immigration-enforcement display in its Nativity scene will stay up at least for the time being.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

 

[Michie]

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The pastor should be removed from the parish by his bishop.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

The pastor should be removed from the parish by his bishop.

Hard disagree

ICE is separating children from their mothers on the thinnest of evidence and the flimsiest of reasons.

We, as Christians, are required to stand up and say something.

Recipts so I don't have to put up with people claiming I'm just some kind of lying lair:

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5441487-ice-raids-trauma-children/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/politics/us-citizen-children-separated-parents-deported-ice-invs

ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.

Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the country, often after little more than a traffic stop.

www.propublica.org

 

[Michie]

A week after the archbishop of Boston asked a pastor to remove an anti-immigration-enforcement display from a Nativity scene outside his church, it remained up as of Friday, with no word on what happens next.

Meanwhile, two Protestant churches in northern Illinois have erected Nativity scenes with comparable anti-immigration-enforcement messages, The Associated Press reported.

In Massachusetts, a sign above a manger outside St. Susanna Church in Dedham reads, “ICE was here,” while another sign says figures depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph are “safe in the Sanctuary of our Church.” A spokesman for Boston Archbishop Richard Henning told the Register on Friday that the archdiocese has no update on the situation. The pastor, Father Stephen Josoma, did not respond to a request for an interview.

The display went up Nov. 29, the day Advent began liturgically. Six days later, on Dec. 5, a spokesman for Archbishop Henning called for the display to be removed, describing it as “divisive political messaging” and saying, “The Church’s norms prohibit the use of sacred objects for any purpose other than the devotion of God’s people.”

Continued below.

Anti-ICE Display Still Up at Boston-Area Church, a Week After Archbishop’s Spokesman Said It Should Come Down

The pastor said during Sunday Mass on Dec. 7 that he has received a letter from the archbishop asking for the display to be removed.

www.ncregister.com

 

[Michie]

When a Nativity Scene Becomes a Partisan Billboard​

When a Nativity Scene Becomes a Partisan Billboard

COMMENTARY: The display in Dedham, Massachusetts, is more of a political prop than a call to a deeper relationship with Christ.

www.ncregister.com

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Hard disagree

ICE is separating children from their mothers on the thinnest of evidence and the flimsiest of reasons.

We, as Christians, are required to stand up and say something.

Recipts so I don't have to put up with people claiming I'm just some kind of lying lair:

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5441487-ice-raids-trauma-children/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/politics/us-citizen-children-separated-parents-deported-ice-invs

ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.

Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the country, often after little more than a traffic stop.

www.propublica.org

Disobedience by the pastor would be the reason for his removal.

The creche is no place for a modern-day political message, which divides rather than unites.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

I’m no theologian, but to me this borders on blasphemy. The Nativity is sacred, not a political poster.

 

[Valletta]

Hard disagree

ICE is separating children from their mothers on the thinnest of evidence and the flimsiest of reasons.

We, as Christians, are required to stand up and say something.

Recipts so I don't have to put up with people claiming I'm just some kind of lying lair:

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5441487-ice-raids-trauma-children/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/politics/us-citizen-children-separated-parents-deported-ice-invs

ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.

Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the country, often after little more than a traffic stop.

www.propublica.org

ICE has rescued over 62,000 children, many of them were either forced to do labor or forced into sexual slavery. A number of politicians and bureaucrats, many of the Christians, created or supported policies that allowed the children to be put into such situation. There are hundreds of children, as the article explained, who have been taken into government custody when their parents were arrested. This also happens when a single parent or custodial U.S. citizen is arrested and jailed. Not leaving them together with their adult parent in jail or prison is for the safety of the children. ICE agents have saved others beyond those 62,000 plus children as well, adults held against their will, babies left in the water that they have given CPR to. ICE agents have many times given away their own lunches to children who have not eaten for days. Shutting down the inhumane Biden border policies has saved many lives. It has also saved many women from violent attacks, 31% of the women who made the trip to cross our border were sexually attacked. Roughly 90% of those that were allowed into our country to apply for asylum under the Biden administration are found to be not eligible. Those who legally applied for asylum from outside of our country have had to go to the back of the line, we don't know how many were persecuted or died while waiting. ICE is working diligently to save as many people as they can.

 

[RileyG]

The pastor should be removed from the parish by his bishop.

Hmmm….i think it depends. They might not have enough priests. Maybe a public apology to his parishioners? I dunno.

 

[RileyG]

I’m no theologian, but to me this borders on blasphemy. The Nativity is sacred, not a political poster.

Amen!