Pastor apologizes for words ‘hurtful to Muslims’ in homily on immigration

A Minnesota pastor has apologized after remarks he made about Muslim immigration and Islam being “the greatest threat in the world” sparked controversy. “My homily on immigration contained words that were hurtful to Muslims. I’m sorry for this,” said Father Nick Van Den Broeke, pastor of Immaculate Conception in Lonsdale, which is south of the Twin Cities, in the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis. “I realize now that my comments were not fully reflective of the Catholic Church’s teaching on Islam,” he said in a Jan. 29 statement. In a homily Van Den Broeke gave on Jan. 5, the feast of the Epiphany and, in Minnesota, Immigration on Sunday, he acknowledged the complexity of immigration as a political issue and that the Bible challenges Catholics to “welcome strangers.”