“We Catholics are welcoming to the outsider, not only because of our own experience of sometimes being scorned in the past, but also because our faith teaches it. As Pope John Paul II remarked during his visit to a mosque in Syria, “We are all members of the one human family, and, as believers, we have obligations to the common good, to justice, and to human solidarity.” He and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, even went-to-bat for the Islamic community in Rome in their yearnings to build the first mosque in Rome.

And we Catholics are hospitable to newcomers, not just because we faced hostility and closed-doors in the past, not only because our Church teaches this value, but because we are loyal Americans. Our beloved country is predicated on religious freedom, toleration, and the innate dignity of every human person, regardless of race, ethnic background, or religion. And we New Yorkers have been a sterling example of making genuine the words of hope held out by the Statue of Liberty.

This is hardly “pie-in-the-sky,” but very timely. We now have controversy surrounding the hopes of our newly-arrived Islamic community to build a mosque downtown, and to purchase an empty convent on Staten Island as a center for study and community life.

Legitimate and understandable concerns about these two endeavors have arisen, and it is good these are being aired and discussed. Please God, such airing and discussion will be done with charity and civility, and reach a peaceful resolution.

Yes, it is acceptable to ask questions about security, safety, the background and history of the groups hoping to build and buy.

What is not acceptable is to prejudge any group, or to let fear and bias trump the towering American (and for us Catholics, the religious) virtues of hospitality, welcome, and religious freedom.”