CNA Staff, Apr 24, 2020 / 05:13 pm (CNA).- As the Trump administration suspends immigration to stem the spread of coronavirus, the United States’ bishops encouraged global solidarity, saying the order promotes hostility instead.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order April 22 which would block a large portion of immigrants from accessing green cards.
“In this moment, our common humanity is apparent more now than ever. The virus is merciless in its preying upon human life; it knows no borders or nationality,” read an April 23 statement issued by Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of US bishops’ conference; Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville of Washington, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration; and Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, chair of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
“The President’s action threatens instead to fuel polarization and animosity. While we welcome efforts to ensure that all Americans are recognized for the dignity of their work, the global crisis caused by COVID-19 demands unity and the creativity of love, not more division and the indifference of a throw-away mentality.”
The Migration Policy Institute reported that the order could block an estimated 52,000 green cards over the next 60-day period. The executive order may also be renewed after this period is over.
According to the order, the temporary halt to immigration will apply to those who “do not have an immigrant visa that is valid on the effective date of this proclamation” or “do not have an official travel document other than a visa that is valid on the effective date of this proclamation or issued on any date thereafter that permits him or her to travel to the United States and seek entry or admission.”
The order will not pertain to healthcare professionals, any member of the US military, minor children and spouses of US citizens, and those entering for national security reasons.
According to the New York Times, as of April 24, the coronavirus has infected over 2.7 million people and killed 186,832 people worldwide.
Numerous countries throughout the world have tightened restrictions on borders and traveling. In the past month, there have been several changes to the United States immigration system, including delays to immigration hearings and suspended refugee admissions, CNN reported.
The bishops expressed concerns that this order will not only negatively affect immigrants but religious workers as well. This order will be detrimental to the Church and other denominations, they further added.
“The proclamation prevents certain immigrant family members from reuniting with their loved ones living in the United States. Additionally, it bars religious workers seeking to come to the United States as lawful permanent residents from supporting the work of our Church, as well as many other religions, at this time,” they said.
“This will undoubtedly hurt the Catholic Church and other denominations in the United States, diminishing their overall ability to minister to those in need,” the bishops wrote.
The bishops emphasized the dignity of all people and said that immigrants are a positive influence on society.
“There is little evidence that immigrants take away jobs from citizens. Immigrants and citizens together are partners in reviving the nation’s economy. We must always remember that we are all sons and daughters of God joined together as one human family.”
“Pope Francis teaches us that to live through these times we need to employ and embody the ‘creativity of love,’” they said.
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The Adoration Chapel at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. / Photo Credit: Aaron Miller, Miller Design & Marketing
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 20, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).
“Awesome. Awesome.”
That’s how Anna Sudomerski, the communications coordinator at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, describes the parish’s eucharistic adoration program.
St. Peter’s is among the parishes in the United States that are hosting perpetual eucharistic adoration with the Blessed Sacrament exposed 24 hours a day.
Since Church law dictates that exposition of the Blessed Sacrament requires at least one adorer present at all times, this means the parishes that opt for this extraordinary form of worship must coordinate a major year-round effort to ensure at least one volunteer is present before the Eucharist every hour of the day.
Eucharistic adoration, whether exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, is an ancient custom of the Church dating back to its earliest centuries. Yet its practice today occurs among flagging faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, with U.S. Catholics signaling a growing reluctance to believe that Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Yet multiple parishes around the country in recent years have maintained vibrant adoration initiatives, including St. Peter’s, which began its perpetual adoration in the early 1990s.
Sudomerski said the St. Peter’s adoration program started at the parish’s original historic church in downtown Beaufort. With the construction of a new church building in 2006, adoration moved to a purpose-built chapel there.
For years, Sudomerski said, the adoration program was run by team captains who each supervised a specific stretch of hours within a given 24-hour period.
“They were in charge of certain times, like from midnight to 6 a.m., in case the adorer could not make it, so the captain would have to find a substitute or cover the hour themselves,” she told CNA. “We had four team captains covering midnight to 6, 6 to noon, noon to 6, and 6 to midnight.”
She said the church’s adoption of the sign-up software Adoration Pro “made it a lot easier for people to sign up.”
“From there, ever since, we’ve done several campaigns,” she said. “One to pass out interest forms to see who would be interested in what hour. We just finished another campaign because Father thought the Eucharist is the most important thing that we have. We’ve done callouts, mailings.”
Light of the World Catholic Church in Littleton, Colorado
Kathryn Nygaard, the communications director at Light of the World Catholic Church in Littleton, Colorado, outside of Denver, said the parish has maintained an adoration program since 2007.
“There are two parishioners who are the main adoration chapel coordinators and they do an incredible job,” she said. “In addition, there are 24 ‘hourly coordinators’ to assist with making sure substitutes fill in during open hours and communicating with the adorers in their specific hour.”
“There are approximately 270 people involved in adoration, as either regularly scheduled adorers or as substitutes,” she said. The church hosts two “renewal weekends” in February for adorers to re-up for the coming year; regular announcements are also made at weekend Masses to attract more interest.
Adorers at Light of the World use the church software Flocknote to communicate with one another, Nygaard said. “Most requests for substitutes are filled within 1-2 days,” she noted.
Bishops aim to ‘start a fire’ of eucharistic renewal
The U.S. bishops last year launched the National Eucharistic Revival, meant to “start a fire” of eucharistic devotion among Catholics in the United States. The initiative was first conceived following the 2019 Pew poll showing low numbers of Catholics with a belief in the Real Presence.
As part of the three-year program, parishes around the country have been encouraged to launch Eucharist-focused programs and events to draw parishioners into a deeper relationship with Jesus through the Blessed Sacrament.
Next year, the bishops will host a National Eucharistic Congress featuring multiple high-profile Catholic speakers along with what is expected to be a crowd of about 80,000 Catholics. Pope Francis in June called next year’s national congress “a significant moment in the life of the Church in the United States.”
St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska
At St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska, worshippers have been keeping perpetual adoration there for more than 62 years — since Feb. 14, 1961, according to a live clock on the parish’s website.
The exposed Blessed Sacrament at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska. Credit: Tim Cumberland
The parish on its website says the roots of its adoration program go back to 1949 and expanded thereafter. The program now includes worshippers from other nearby parishes who come to participate in adoration.
Parishioner Tim Cumberland told CNA the church is “blessed to have about 550 people in the program.”
“A few years ago, we went to an automated process of managing our perpetual adoration program, using the Adoration Pro software,” Cumberland said. “This has greatly improved our ability for our adorers to find subs online when necessary. A request for a substitute is usually filled within minutes.”
Kim Waller said the 25-year-old adoration program at Holy Infant Catholic Church in Ballwin, Missouri, still uses a coordinator-led sign-up program instead of an online sign-up. Like many programs, Holy Infant breaks down management of the adoration schedule into hourly segments.
“The 24 hourly coordinators form the backbone of perpetual adoration,” she said. “They ensure that there is at least one adorer present in the chapel at all times. The hourly coordinator reviews the sign-up list weekly to ensure that their committed hourly adorer fulfills his/her commitment and contacts the adorer if she/he has not been to adoration as committed for two consecutive weeks.”
A new team of coordinators just took over in January, Waller said. “The last several years, the ministry was administered by a couple who since have passed within six months of each other,” she said.
St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina
Donna Pierce told CNA she helped launch the 24/7 adoration program at St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina, roughly 30 years ago.
“I think we have about 10-15 people who have maintained their Holy Hour since it began, and currently we have 318 weekly adorers and about 60 substitutes, not counting the many people that pop in the chapel when they can,” she said.
Pierce said a priest from a perpetual adoration apostolate helped the parish launch the program. “He told us that having perpetual adoration is actually much easier to run than a 40-hours or other time frame,” she said. “Adorers incorporate their hour into their schedule, so you don’t have to keep signing up from scratch.”
The exposed Blessed Sacrament in the St. Claire Chapel at St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina. Credit: Lori Rainchuso
She said the parish maintains participation in the program by way of biannual talks at Masses (which Pierce described as “our fall and Lent blitzes”). These efforts usually result in upwards of a few dozen sign-ups.
On the website for the National Eucharistic Revival, the bishops say that the current year of the program is focused on “fostering eucharistic devotion at the parish level, strengthening our liturgical life through the faithful celebration of the Mass, eucharistic adoration, missions, resources, preaching, and organic movements of the Holy Spirit.”
Catholic evangelist Tim Glemkowski in a video for the revival urged parish leaders to “prioritize personal encounters with Jesus in the Eucharist” over the course of the year.
“The heart of this invitation … is to create space in our parish calendar this year for people to come and encounter Jesus in the Eucharist personally,” he said. “This could mean parishes that don’t have perpetual adoration start that opportunity, or opportunities for eucharistic processions, or different devotional experiences.”
Pierce said that starting the St. Mary program decades ago was a daunting prospect, but she went ahead with it by putting her trust in God.
“It was terrifying when Msgr. [Thomas] Evatt asked me to be head coordinator to start it so long ago — I was 30 years old with a toddler and working part time,” Pierce said. “So I made a deal with God. He would have to be responsible for sustaining it, and we would just be his instruments.”
“How many, many times he made it obvious he was running it!” she said.
Graces for eternity
St. Bonaventure’s website, meanwhile, predicts that the graces of perpetual adoration will redound not just in the present but for eternity.
“Someday far, far from now, there will be a magnificent heavenly banquet where all of the adorers in the St. Bonaventure adoration program will be reunited,” the parish’s website says.
“Won’t it be wonderful,” the website continues, “for all of us who have been in the program to share stories of how many of our lives, and the lives of those we touched as a result, were radically changed by this personal and enduring encounter with Our Lord!”
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Coronavirus obviously has not idled the leftwing propaganda machine of the USCCB. At a time when 26 million Americans have been thrown out of work, the bishops still have to complain about a sixty-day moratorium on immigration. This is a “moratorium”, moreover, that is riddled with loopholes. I’d love to see their evidence that immigrants don’t take jobs away from Americans. I am also just as sure that mass immigration has not lowered wages for American workers or that a disproportionate number of immigrants don’t end up on the public dole. The constant stream of stupid and offensive statements on political issues do far more to “fuel animosity and polarization” than inadequate government measures intended to safeguard the well being of the American people.
The pandemic in the US and Europe is also, in part, a direct result of the open border immigration policies endorsed by the Church hierarchy. I don’t expect any admission on that point either.
No doubt some infection was carried into Europe and the States by immigrants or foreign nationals but Ive read that in the UK it was also spread by British folk returning home from Singapore and other business/vacation sites.
I think world travel is more the issue than immigration. But at this point halting immigration may help because there seem to be different strains of the virus circulating in other regions of the globe. Perhaps in different cities or US states also?
It’s a puzzlement what the long term outcome will be but it’s frustrating to see various interests attempting to use a tragic epidemic to further their own agendas.
It is undoubtedly true that the spread was caused by both travelers and immigrants. With a more restrictive immigration policy, however, the outbreak in the US and elsewhere would have been far less serious.
The idea that a 60-day moratorium will cause significant harm to the mission of the church in the U.S. is absurd and is a further indication that the bishops are less interested in their current members than immigrants.
Trump once more casts a pall over Americans who are hurting with the COVID nightmare by using his bully pulpit. Doctor Trump misleading citizens by disgracefully offering his non-medical expertise by saying people should take Lysol and bleach to
“remove the virus in minutes”. Even his advisors were aghast.
Then he signs an order that blocks all immigrants from entering the US even those who are seeking asylum. How about immigrants who are productive? “There is little evidence that immigrants take away jobs from US citizens. However, Trump is blindly fueling polarization civil unrest and animosity. Immigrants who are productive fill low paying manual labor and have taken jobs of providing the critical link in the food chain and the market. Most Americans will not fill those jobs. If we stop the coladiscope of US immigration our food chain will be seriously interrupted. Something folks at the dinner table may not know.
Solidarity with Americans first.
Coronavirus obviously has not idled the leftwing propaganda machine of the USCCB. At a time when 26 million Americans have been thrown out of work, the bishops still have to complain about a sixty-day moratorium on immigration. This is a “moratorium”, moreover, that is riddled with loopholes. I’d love to see their evidence that immigrants don’t take jobs away from Americans. I am also just as sure that mass immigration has not lowered wages for American workers or that a disproportionate number of immigrants don’t end up on the public dole. The constant stream of stupid and offensive statements on political issues do far more to “fuel animosity and polarization” than inadequate government measures intended to safeguard the well being of the American people.
The pandemic in the US and Europe is also, in part, a direct result of the open border immigration policies endorsed by the Church hierarchy. I don’t expect any admission on that point either.
No doubt some infection was carried into Europe and the States by immigrants or foreign nationals but Ive read that in the UK it was also spread by British folk returning home from Singapore and other business/vacation sites.
I think world travel is more the issue than immigration. But at this point halting immigration may help because there seem to be different strains of the virus circulating in other regions of the globe. Perhaps in different cities or US states also?
It’s a puzzlement what the long term outcome will be but it’s frustrating to see various interests attempting to use a tragic epidemic to further their own agendas.
It is undoubtedly true that the spread was caused by both travelers and immigrants. With a more restrictive immigration policy, however, the outbreak in the US and elsewhere would have been far less serious.
The idea that a 60-day moratorium will cause significant harm to the mission of the church in the U.S. is absurd and is a further indication that the bishops are less interested in their current members than immigrants.
Trump once more casts a pall over Americans who are hurting with the COVID nightmare by using his bully pulpit. Doctor Trump misleading citizens by disgracefully offering his non-medical expertise by saying people should take Lysol and bleach to
“remove the virus in minutes”. Even his advisors were aghast.
Then he signs an order that blocks all immigrants from entering the US even those who are seeking asylum. How about immigrants who are productive? “There is little evidence that immigrants take away jobs from US citizens. However, Trump is blindly fueling polarization civil unrest and animosity. Immigrants who are productive fill low paying manual labor and have taken jobs of providing the critical link in the food chain and the market. Most Americans will not fill those jobs. If we stop the coladiscope of US immigration our food chain will be seriously interrupted. Something folks at the dinner table may not know.