A Catholic church in a Boston suburb is stirring debate this holiday season with a new political statement in its Nativity display. Fox News reports, outside St. Susanna Catholic Church, an empty manger sits beneath a sign reading “ICE was here,” followed by contact information for a state immigration-monitoring group.
According to Fox News, “Father Stephen Josoma, the pastor at St. Susanna, said the church’s peace and justice group organizes a display annually. Josoma told Fox News that they, ‘try to see what would it be like if Christ was born into the context of the world today, what would he be facing?’”
Parishioners and critics alike have weighed in, with C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts calling the display “offensive” and accusing the pastor of politicizing Christmas and using the parish to promote a left-leaning agenda. “[Josoma] is politicizing Christmas, he’s exploiting and trivializing the Holy Family, and he’s using his Catholic parish as a platform to promote his left-winged ideology,” Doyle told Fox News Digital.
Jasoma referred to the display as “religious art,” and reportedly told a local TV station that the arrangement aims to reflect “the dynamic of what’s going on in the world today,” and noted a history of provocative Nativity installations from his parish in recent years.
Doyle argued that the Archdiocese of Boston should intervene, pointing to guidance from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops about avoiding “dehumanizing rhetoric” and violence toward immigrants and law enforcement. He said the Nativity scene appears dehumanizing to law enforcement.
The controversy isn’t isolated to Massachusetts; another church in Illinois created a Nativity display featuring Baby Jesus with hands zip-tied and Mary and Joseph wearing gas masks, describing the scene as a reimagining of “forced family separation.” Jillian Westerfield, associate minister at Lake Street Church of Evanston, said the imagery connects with current events and the Gospel narrative of Jesus’ birth, emphasizing the church’s stance as a platform to discuss moral issues rather than support or oppose any political party.
Josoma told Fox News that the response to the display has been “overwhelmingly supportive,” despite one incident in which he was called a “murderer.”