September 26, 2021 - "National Migration Week"

Today marks the final day of National Migration Week.  The Catholic Church in the United States has celebrated this event for nearly fifty years.  It provides an opportunity for the Church to reflect on the circumstances confronting migrants, including immigrants, refugees, children, and victims and survivors of human trafficking.  This year National Migrant Week began on September 20. Its closing today dovetails with the Vatican’s celebration of World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR).  The primary theme for WDMR for this year is “Toward an ever wider ‘WE.’ When Pope Francis announced this year’s theme, he emphasized that “this focus calls on us to ensure that ‘after all this, we will think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those,’ but only ‘us” (Fratelli tutti, no. 35). And this universal us must become a reality first of all within the Church which is called to cultivate communion in diversity.’
 
National Migration Week has used the same theme as the World Day for Migrants and Refugees in solidarity with the Vatican’s plans for the celebration of WDMR, but National Migration Week has emphasized the particular ways in which this theme and its application to migration question is important for the Catholic Church in the United States.  Let me give you a few things to consider as we begin National Migration Week:
· Catholics are called to stand with immigrants and refugees as our brothers and sisters.  This is who the Catholic Church is.  This is what we as Catholics do.
· Immigration is about real people who are trying to find a better life and a new beginning.  It’s about more than statistics, it’s about families.  As Pope Francis states, “Every migrant has a name, a face and a story.”
· Welcoming immigrants is part of Catholic Social Teaching and reflects the Biblical tradition to welcome the stranger.
· The Catholic Church has been welcoming immigrants and refugees to the United States since the nation’s founding and has been integral to helping them integrate into American culture.
· Forced displacement of people is at the highest level since World War II, with more than 65 million people displaced around the world and over 22 million refugees.
· Refugees are the most rigorously screened population coming into America.  This screening happens before they ever set foot into our country.  The United States has the most thorough background checks of immigrants of any nation in the world.
 
In previous columns I have mentioned the important work being done by New Neighbors Interfaith Alliance (NNIA).  This is particularly relevant to highlight during National Migration Week.  Let me bring to your attention to an appeal for volunteers and benefactors in their August 2021 E-Newsletter.  There has been a great deal of news coverage of the mass exodus of Afghan families to the US.  NNIA would like to make sure that we are part of making some of these families feel welcomed in the US.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) provides families for NNIA to assist through their mentoring program and expects to ask for help for Afghan families.  In order for us to mentor one of the IRC families, volunteers must attend one of the IRC orientation sessions and agree to a simple background check.  The IRC holds monthly orientation sessions.  For more about that see the contact information for NNIA below.
 
In addition to working with new families from the IRC, NNIA works closely with Vincentian Friends on the Periphery, which continues to have overwhelming needs for the primarily Hispanic Immigrant Community in Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties.  The needs of these families include English tutoring support, academic help, helping parents interface with the school system, job support, and providing financial assistance for rent or other critical expenses such as necessary and costly physicals for Green Card applications for permanent residency.  A number of these families are not eligible for government assistance and cannot obtain living wage employment because of their immigration status.  Several are single mothers with young children who find themselves in close to impossible situations.  They need emotional and other forms of support that faith communities can provide.
 
NNIA is conducting a volunteer/prospective volunteer meeting on Monday, October 4 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss volunteer opportunities and answer any questions you may have.  Please feel free to contact NNIA with any questions you may have regarding services or donations you would like to make.  The primary email is [email protected].
 
Until next week,
Fr. John