The Christian Bible teaches that the Holy Family—Joseph, Mary, and Jesus—were residents of the Herodian ruled Nazareth, Galilee. Having traveled back to Joseph's ancestral home—Roman ruled Bethlehem, Judea—for the census, Mary and Joseph, in modern American parlance, would have been homeless immigrants/tourists having an "anchor baby" at the time of Jesus' birth.
While Joseph considered Galilee his immediate family's home, the trio would eventually flee to Egypt as refugees to escape from King Herod.
The fact the Holy Family were in turn homeless immigrants having a baby on foreign soil and political refugees is something Saint Susanna Roman Catholic Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, decided people needed to remember this holiday season.
The church's outdoor Nativity scene, a staple at most Roman Catholic churches from advent until epiphany, is missing the Holy Family, including the baby Jesus.
Where the creche and infant would be is instead a sign saying:
"ICE WAS HERE."
Under that sign is a smaller one reading:
"The Holy Family is safe in the Sanctuary of our Church."
"If you see ICE, please call LUCE [Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts] at 617-370-5023."
You can see St. Susanna's display here:
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Immigrants and refugees—and brown and Black citizens including enrolled members of Indigenous Nations—in the United States are being harassed, abducted, and vilified by the administration of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.
Father Stephen Josoma said he chose to focus the parish's nativity on immigration after speaking with refugee families the church has worked with over the past few years. Several St. Susanna congregants come from countries like Honduras, Guatemala and Afghanistan and fear what ICE's stepped-up deportations would mean if they were sent back to face the violence they fled.
Father Josoma told WBUR:
"These are folks who carry a lot of scars with them. Some of them are physical scars, but most are emotional. They’ve seen their folks killed in front of them."
He added:
"I think the role of all churches is to speak out on issues, that’s what the Gospel is about. How we treat the least among us is how we ultimately treat Christ."
Father Josoma said religious art should provoke reflection, even discomfort. Critics’ anger about the Nativity says more about people’s priorities than the installation itself.
He told WBUR:
"A lot of responses haven’t been anywhere near civil conversation. If you ignore the facts, that’s fine, but you can’t have a real dialogue if you don’t accept the reality of what is there."
The conservative Archdiocese of Boston dubbed the church's display "politically divisive" and encouraged St. Susanna's to return their Nativity to its "proper sacred purpose."
The Archdiocese's official statement read:
"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."
But the Roman Catholic Church in the United States has often used their political and financial power to attack LGBTQ+ equality, especially marriage equality, and reproductive freedom.
The Boston Archdiocese's stance also disregards numerous statements by the pinnacle of power within the Holy Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV. The pontiff has even said if Christians are to call themselves "pro-life," they must follow the Bible's teachings on compassion towards and welcoming of the foreigner.
While the Archdiocese may want to avoid ruffling rich MAGA Republican donors' feathers, St. Susanna's Nativity more closely matches both Pope Leo's stated views and scripture.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been likened to Adolf Hitler's Geheime StaatsPolizei (GeStaPo) and SchutzStaffel (SS) for their tactics and behavior.
The Roman Catholic Church was accused of officially turning a blind eye to Nazi atrocities, while some individual parishes and clergy took action to help those persecuted instead of siding with their oppressors, up until the Nazis became a direct threat to the Vatican.
History seems to be repeating itself.
While ICE agents invade residential neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and hospitals with their faces covered, without warrants, refusing to provide identification, and randomly attacking anyone brown or Black, the Boston Archdiocese's biggest concern is appearances and the discomfort of guilty consciences.
Originally claiming their targets would be only undocumented gang members or those with criminal records, the Trump administration's mask quickly slipped to reveal their real goal under the White supremacist and Christian nationalist Project 2025 is to remove as many Black and brown people as possible, regardless of their legal status or citizenship.
Trump's recent rhetoric includes stripping citizenship from anyone MAGA views as unworthy—a.k.a. anyone darker than a pumpkin spiced latte or any White person who speaks out against the Trump regime.
As such, Saint Susanna parish's decision is drawing considerable backlash from Trump’s MAGA minions within and without the Catholic Church.
The leader of the conservative Catholic Action League, which advocates for increased Catholic influence in politics, told WBUR he was furious about the political message in the Nativity in Dedham.
The irony was completely lost on him.
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts (CAL-Mass) Executive Director CJ Doyle claimed:
"This is a case of a dissident priest who has a long history of these crackpot, publicity stunts. He’s politicizing Christmas, he’s exploiting the Holy Family, he’s trivializing it and he’s using his position as a pastor to promote his left-wing political ideology."
Doyle, who according to the CAL-Mass website "went on to do another half dozen interviews," called the sign "inappropriate, sacrilegious, divisive and disrespectful" in addition to claiming Father Josoma just wanted publicity. Again, the irony was entirely lost on Doyle.
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Apparently the Catholic Action League wants more political action, but only if it's supporting their right-wing agenda.
While Doyle raged for anyone who would give him a platform, others found his and the MAGA response predictable and on brand.
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For more than a decade, St. Susanna's parish has used their Nativity display to tackle issues like gun control, climate change, racism, and immigration policies.
Evangelical Christians, conservative Catholics, and self-professed Christian nationalists—like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson—are the core of Trump's MAGA minions.
Despite what their guidebook says, they have been not only been fine, but are fully supportive of the Trump administration's openly racist and xenophobic policies towards immigrants.
Given the Holy Family were immigrants with an "anchor baby" as well as refugees fleeing political violence, have MAGA Christians forgotten their "reason for the season"?
Maybe instead of insisting everyone say "Merry Christmas" this year, MAGA should focus on their real chosen savior and say "Merry Trumpmas."
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