Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 36

Overcrowding of families observed by OIG on June 10, 2019, at Border Patrol’s McAllen, TX, Station
Photo credit: Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General

Read Ahead:  Luke 4:16-21
 

No Longer Stranger: Accompanying Migrants and Refugees in Our Communities

"Through your Jesuit education, you have been invited to become 'companions of Jesus' and, with Saint Ignatius Loyola as your guide, you have been sent into the world to be men and women for an with others. At this place and time in history, there is a great need for men and women to hear the cry of the poor and respond with mercy and generosity."

Pope Francis, Address to Members of the European Confederation and the World Union of Alumni and Alumnae, September 17, 2016

Ultimately, the goal of this Discernment Series for Racial Justice has been about conforming our hearts and minds to the heart and mind of Jesus, who lovingly looked down at the world and saw our divisions and decided to enter into the world. In the Gospel of Luke 4:16-21, Jesus begins his public ministry in chapter four by announcing the good news of God – that he has come to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. One way Jesus journeys with and desires to let the oppressed go free is in the cries of immigrants and refugees, hungering for freedom from situations of dire poverty, violence, and fear. We too are called to conform our hearts and minds to see that there is no such thing as a stranger, but rather fellow brothers and sisters who need welcome, mercy, and generosity. 

In promulgating the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, Father General Arturo Sosa SJ declares that Jesuit ministries are those that walk with the excluded in a mission of reconciliation and justice. There are all sorts of ways that Jesuit and Ignatian ministries have responded in the United States. Some of these include: 
 

The Kino Border Initiative, a binational organization in Nogales, AZ and Nogales, Mexico that provides direct aid to migrants who have been deported, as well as advocating for better policies and treatment of immigrants and refugees. Kino also provides educational opportunities and immersions to accompany, humanize, and complexify our understanding of the experiences on the border. 
 

The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) works in partnership with over 150 Jesuit and Catholic institutions across the United States to connect, educate, and provide advocacy efforts for justice grounded in Catholic Social Teaching. ISN has made migration of its central educational and advocacy efforts. 
 

Jesuit Refugee Services USA (JRS) is part of the larger Jesuit Refugee Services network serving refugees across the entire globe. In the United States, JRS seeks to serve migrants and immigrants especially in detention facilities who often face poor treatment and are not given due process accorded to them regardless of their documentation status. 
 

The Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States Office of Justice and Ecology works to advocate for structural change in the United States, especially with the federal government. Working in relationship with many Catholic and Jesuit networks including Kino, ISN, and JRS, the Jesuit Conference provides opportunities to oppose any policies that harm migrants trying to come to or already living in the United States.  
 

Finally, many Jesuit ministries across the United States have taken stronger stances and actions to support migrants and refugees. Some of these efforts include hosting and supporting a refugee family, creating policies for DACA and other undocumented students to feel safer and included at Jesuit high schools and universities, holding a mass of solidarity outside an immigration detention center, and providing educational opportunities for Catholics across a diocese to learn more about immigration reform. These efforts and more continue to form, inform, and change all involved, so as to see that we truly are responsible for all our brothers and sisters.

Resource: Ten Things You Can Do to Accompany Undocumented Immigrants from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
 

This backgrounder provides suggested actions that you can take to support undocumented migrants, in lieu of hosting or providing physical shelter. Included are links to further information, which will assist your effort to launch some of the suggested initiatives. 

Questions for Reflection: