National Migration Week spotlights journey of immigrants

Washington D.C., Jan 7, 2018 / 05:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The 2018 National Migration Week observed by the U.S. bishops’ conference will focus on the theme, “Many Journeys, One Family,” highlighting the experience of migrants who are forced to leave their homes.

With more than 65 million people worldwide displaced from their homes, Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Migration, expressed hope that the week will educate Catholics on migration and encourage the faithful to share in the struggles of immigrants.  

“National Migration Week allows for reflection upon the biblical teaching concerning welcoming the newcomer and allows us to share the journey with our brothers and sisters who have been forced from their homes,” said the bishop in a Jan. 5 statement.

This year, National Migration Week falls Jan. 7-13. Its theme coincides with the “Share the Journey,” global immigration campaign hosted by Caritas Internationalis.

Observed by the U.S. bishops for nearly 50 years, this week will also help educate Catholics about the ethnically diverse communities within the Church, and how the Church has served immigrants throughout the years.

As part of this year’s National Migration Week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is taking part in an immigration awareness event at The Catholic University of America.

Scheduled Jan. 11, the event is entitled “On the Margins: At the intersection of Catholic Thought and Migration,” and will feature Catholic experts including Ashley Feasley, director of Migration Policy and Public Affairs for the bishops’ conference, and V. Bradley Lewis, a philosophy professor at CUA faculty fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology.

In addition to the bishops’ conference, the panel discussion will be sponsored by The Catholic University of America’s Institute for Human Ecology.

One panel at the event will focus on the stories of children, examining how current migration policies in the U.S. affect DREAMERs and DACA recipients. Attendees will have an opportunity to migrant children’s stories: their reasons for migrating, the experiences of their journeys, and examples of how they’ve been received in the U.S.

Another panel will analyze immigration in the context of Catholic social teaching, and consider how this tradition has affected the bishops’ development of U.S. policy. It will also look at how migration has been a major issue in the Pope Francis pontificate.  

A live stream of the event will be featured at: https://theinstituteforhumanecology.com/event/margins-intersection-catholic-thought-migration/.

 


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5 Comments

  1. I doubt the following paragraph from Section 2241 of the Catechism will be mentioned:

    “Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.”

  2. As a Catholic, I see the Church’s policy on immigration to be lacking and irrelevant.

    The policy clearly tries to make Catholics believe that if we are against open borders, then we are unkind, fearful of strangers, and prejudiced.

    Further, we are told that Jesus was a refugee or an illegal immigrant. But Egypt was not a country. The country was the Roman Empire. Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled from one region of the Empire to another, temporarily.

    The Bishops want us to believe that all people have the right to migrate to improve their lives. However, we don’t have the right to break other countries’ immigration laws.

    The Catholic Church should take a clear stand against illegal immigration. Or, better yet, stay out of politics and focus on its job, which is to save souls.

    • Susan you are absolutely correct.
      What is difficult to get our arms around is the fact that the RCC political class, its bishops, crave secular approval.
      This problem, illegal immigration, is the PC issue they have been waiting for. They will not let go of it.
      So you and I have become their evil enemy, by seeking to uphold the legal and moral law enacted by the elected representatives of the people in a republican democracy.
      The Catholic bishops will have none of this. To them, it is completely immaterial.

  3. Instead of berating Americans who want our borders strengthened, our religious leaders should be calling out the primary culprits in the illegal alien invasion crisis–corrupt Third-World despots who rape their countries’ resources, and deny their people education and progress.

    • Yes, indeed. Bullseye.
      But one must have a spine to do this. Our herd-like bishops have no stomach for the truth on this matter.
      They seek secular approval and smiles.
      The secular and Catholic Left will turn on them soon enough. Bet on it.

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