COMPLIMENTS TO CARDINAL Roger M. Mahony, who not only has been saying the right things about illegal immigrants but also has been reinforcing the right of religious leaders to speak out on the moral ramifications of political issues. The leader of the archdiocese that encompasses the nation's largest population of illegal immigrants spoke to a reality that cannot be denied, even among vigilante border guards: The current immigration situation cannot hold.

Reasonable people realize that deporting all illegal immigrants would be impossible as well as economically suicidal. And as a moral issue, this nation's treatment of illegal immigrants, and its reliance on a black market for labor, speaks poorly about the nature of our society. Could we become a nation that prohibits the Catholic Church and other charities from helping hungry or sick people in our midst, as the House-passed version of immigration reform would have it?