HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. —The doors to the Catholic priesthood opened for Father Kevin Yarnell after a career teaching.

And he is echoing the message of Pope Leo and U.S. bishops of compassion and respect for immigrants.

What You Need To Know

  •  The pope and U.S. bishops call for humane treatment of immigrants during ICE detentions

  •  Priests have attended immigration court amidst ICE detainments

  •  St. Anne's Catholic Church Pastor Kevin Yarnell offers the teachings of St. Paul: lead with love as the guiding principle of actions

  • Yarnell said to "listen to the voices of the Shepherd" and that Jesus "did not use labels and neither should we"

Yarnell, pastor of St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Ruskin, leans on what he’s learned from the Gospel readings of St. Paul.

“Whatever needs to be done, whatever the right thing to do is, at least if we could do it with love. That would be the one thing that might work as a guiding principle,” said Yarnell.

Catholic priests and other faith leaders are trying to live this truth in places like San Diego, assisting immigrants in court hearings and calling for better treatment of people in custody.

“I don’t know about these new things they are building,” said Yarnell. “Lots of pictures of refugee camps around the world, they are pretty awful. And yes, there is that — you just hope we don’t fall into the mentality that — again, 'These people I have labeled. And I want to get rid of them and I put them there.' That’s not human. I don’t even think that’s a part of the American spirit on the Fourth of July, where so many people’s ancestors came from all over.”

So for Yarnell, it’s more than a religious calling to treat people better.

“And I think it’s good to keep reminding ourselves that they are human beings. And yes, if there are some legal issues — we need to ask them — (if) we need to send them away, that’s fine, but we just want to do that in a humane way,” he said.

It’s an American calling as well.