There is no issue more important to rural Midwesterners than immigration. This might confuse some people on the coast, given that states like Iowa are so far from any borders. When we think of immigrants, we think of Ellis Island. Now maybe we’re thinking of Tijuana. But most of those who immigrate to the United States remain in rural areas as agricultural or factory workers.

My grandmother’s family came to East Chicago, Ind., from Czechoslovakia in the 1920s. At first they settled in a very poor part of the city; but they eventually achieved their dream by moving to a farm in rural Wisconsin.

In Iowa, where I live now, we once gathered poor people from all over Europe and gave them a chance. You can still point out where German, Irish, Czech or Italian peasants came to make a better living off the land.

We were a landing point for Calabrians, Italians from the Calabria region of southern Italy adjacent to Sicily. The Calabreses had brought many gifts with them – pizza, for example – but they also brought the presence of the Mafia. American society generally perceived Italians as a whole as dirty, lazy, and incompetent or, paradoxically, cunning and criminal. As a result, Italians often felt embattled and slighted. Although the vast majority of Italian immigrants were ordinary people, it took a long time and a lot of effort to shake off the negative image Anglo-Americans had of them.

Msgr., an immigrant priest in Iowa. Luigi Ligutti had a major role in this process. Monsignor Ligutti was born in the small village of Romans in Udine, Italy. He came to Des Moines in 1912 at the age of 17 and became a priest and pastor of Assumption Parish in the small town of Granger, just outside the capital. He became deeply involved in social movements supporting farmers and immigrants, eventually heading an organization called Catholic Rural Life during the Great Depression. During this role, he served as an advocate for the rural poor, the natural environment and farmers. He also sought to promote a spirituality and connection with God specific to the farmer’s experience.

Like the Rev. Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of ColumbusMonsignor Ligutti had a special heart for immigrants. Both organizations made efforts to educate newcomers and ensure their well-being. But rural life, then as now, often presented great difficulties. The agricultural crisis and Depression of the 1920s hit farmers especially hard. Debts mounted, and with no relief in sight, depression and suicide rates skyrocketed. This risk is typical of rural life, where farmers and others face heavy responsibilities, often alone.

I have written before in these pages It’s about the challenges facing rural communities. They are more likely than urban populations to die prematurely, suffer from mental illness or addiction, or commit suicide, and they have poor access to medical care and, ironically, healthy foods. It’s hard to watch a place you love shrink, to see churches, factories, schools, hospitals close. It is not easy to see the shops on the main streets empty, boarded up and with broken windows.

Not all rural towns are like this, but a significant number are. People in rural areas sometimes feel that the government is more interested in taking care of those who came to the country illegally than those who already live here.

But rural Midwesterners as a whole are not simply nativist. They often try to take into account the tremendous changes in their own lives, for better or worse. Every rural town has its own dynamics. In some, immigrants are well integrated into society and are respected for the new life they bring to cramped places. In others, immigrants and older residents remain separated and resentment and mistrust can develop.

In rural Iowa, I met Laotian and Latino Americans who were among the proudest, most patriotic Iowans you could find. Coming from harsh conditions in their home country made them grateful for the freedom, mobility and resources we have here. They love driving their trucks, hunting, fishing, hiking, barbecuing, and doing the things rural Americans do. I also know rural Iowans who go out of their way to welcome newcomers, inviting them into the church community or chatting amiably on the sidelines of baseball or football games while their children play together. And this fact is rarely mentioned amidst the political fuss. Our discussions must pay attention to the problems but also to what successful integration into American life looks like.

I don’t know what policies would best serve both rural people and immigrants, and I don’t want to comment on any border policies. Rural America faces economic and technological trends that leave great suffering in their wake. In some ways, immigration helps these problems, but in other ways it makes it harder in some places. We should first look at these places with sympathetic eyes, both their old residents and their new arrivals.

Monsignor Ligutti may be something of a patron saint on these matters. We must view rural America and its challenges with compassion, solidarity, and brotherhood. The countryside makes life possible for all of us, and those living in rural areas should not be left behind. At the same time, Catholic social teaching emphasizes hospitality and the welcoming of immigrants, recognizing our universal human dignity.

Catholic social teaching may not give us all the answers, but it does give us guiding principles. Monsignor Ligutti, public defender, II. He sought to embody these in his work with immigrants, including resettling World War II refugees in rural Iowa and deep involvement with organizations trying to combat anti-Italian racism.

Another Italian priest, the Rev. Luigi Giussani, said that hospitality is the most difficult and radical act of love we can do, short of giving up our lives for another. Hospitality means inviting someone into our heart, which makes us very vulnerable. This is a risk but also a virtue. Hospitality should always remain our watchword when talking about immigrants And rural people living nearby.

It’s easy for anger to become the driving emotion: anger at immigrants, anger at rural Americans. But good things will not come from there. This will come from love for everyone, as it did for Monsignor Ligutti. It is harder to be hospitable than to be resentful, but we are called to do no less.