Church sparks controversy with empty Nativity scene and ICE enforcement message: 'Politicizing Christmas'

A Massachusetts religion is causing contention with what's missing from its yearly Nativity country and an accompanying statement.

St. Susanna, a Catholic religion successful the Boston suburb of Dedham, displayed a Nativity country extracurricular the religion with an bare manger and a motion that says, "ICE was here," followed by interaction accusation for a radical that monitors migration operations successful the state.

C.J. Doyle, enforcement manager of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, said helium was called by a parishioner upset by the show missing the Holy Family — Jesus, Mary and Joseph — and the statement.

"I deliberation it's precise offensive," Doyle told Fox News Digital. "[Father Stephen Josoma] is politicizing Christmas, he's exploiting and trivializing the Holy Family, and he's utilizing his Catholic parish arsenic a level to beforehand his left-winged ideology."

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St. Susanna Catholic Church successful Dedham, a Boston suburb, sparked contention with its yearly Nativity scene, featuring an bare manger and an "ICE was here" sign. (WFXT)

In response, Josoma told Boston 25 News helium felt this was a bully mode to amusement the "dynamic of what’s going connected successful the satellite today." 

Josoma has go known for making waves with his Nativity scenes implicit the past decade. He and the parish bid and justness radical person made statements connected wide shootings, planetary warming and migration issues successful erstwhile years.

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"This is simply a stance that I would anticipation each churches would take," Josoma told the quality station. "We should beryllium a welcoming community."

In 2018, successful an evident notation to the confederate borderline crisis, the parish placed a cage astir babe Jesus and walled disconnected the Magi successful the Nativity scene, according to reports.

St. Susanna Catholic Church is known for making governmental statements successful its yearly Nativity scenes. One year, it enactment the babe Jesus successful a cage, commentary connected the confederate borderline crisis. (WFXT)

"This is simply a lawsuit of a dissident clergyman who has a agelong past of these kinds of ‘crackpot’ publicity stunts aimed astatine governmental activism," Doyle said. "This has thing to bash with the commencement of our Savior and everything to bash with ventilating [Josoma's] ain governmental projects."

While Doyle acknowledges Josoma's past of mixing authorities and religion, helium feels the existent "enabler" is the Archdiocese of Boston.

"The archdiocese has tolerated this behaviour successful the past," Doyle said. "They should archer him to stop, axenic and simple." 

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Doyle referenced a caller connection made by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that states, "We commune for an extremity to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed astatine immigrants oregon astatine instrumentality enforcement."

When asked if the show was "dehumanizing" to instrumentality enforcement, Doyle responded, "Of people it is."

St. Susanna is not unsocial this Christmas play successful making governmental statements with its Nativity scene.

In Illinois, a religion displayed a manger country that featured babe Jesus' hands zip-tied unneurotic and state masks connected Mary and Joseph. The religion said the show "reimagines the nativity arsenic a country of forced household separation."

The religion urges radical to telephone a fig if they spot ICE. Opponents of the show called the connection "dehumanizing" to instrumentality enforcement. (WFXT)

Jillian Westerfield, an subordinate curate astatine Lake Street Church of Evanston, told Fox News Digital the religion felt the imagery resonates with the existent clip and the communicative of Jesus' birth.

"This installation is not subtle due to the fact that the situation it addresses is not abstract," the religion explained successful a Facebook post. "The Holy Family were refugees … By witnessing this acquainted communicative done the world faced by migrants today, we anticipation to reconstruct its extremist edge, and to inquire what it means to observe the commencement of a exile kid portion turning distant those who travel successful that child’s footsteps."

Lake Street Church of Evanston is simply a Baptist church, and, according to Westerfield, it's the church's spot to "talk astir what to america is simply a motivation issue."

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"We're not coming retired successful favour oregon against immoderate governmental party," Westerfield said. "No 1 is doing what we deliberation needs to beryllium done for the radical of Illinois and for the American people."

Josoma told Boston 25 News he’s received pushback and was called a "murderer," but helium claims this is "his mode of holding a reflector to the satellite for reflection."

Josoma and the Archdiocese of Boston did not instantly respond to Fox News Digital’s petition for comment.