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Arizona bishops’ immigration letter still relevant

By J.D. Long-García, The Catholic Sun
December 21, 2006

One year ago the Arizona bishops released a joint pastoral letter calling for prayer, education and compassion in the immigration debate.

As a new U.S. Congress starts governing this January, their message couldn’t be more relevant today, said Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic dioceses.

“Unfortunately, the situation that we face in this state and in this country with respect to the plight of the immigrant remains a very large concern,” he said.

You Welcomed Me
To learn more about the Arizona bishops’ pastoral letter on migration, visit: www.youwelcomedme.org

While the Arizona bishops encourage comprehensive immigration reform, they also called on Catholics to be welcoming at the parish level and work to reduce poverty in Mexico and Latin America.

“What is still relevant today is our Christian duty to welcome newcomers into our midst and to recognize and defend the dignity of every human person,” Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said recently.

“We cannot be blind to the suffering and poverty which prompts migrants to leave their homes and to look elsewhere for the basic necessities of life for themselves and their families,” he added.

But before anything else, Johnson noted, the letter asked Arizona Catholics to pray.

Specifically, the bishop asked for prayers for migrants who have died and their families, for lawmakers and for law enforcement personnel.

Johnson said he is hopeful the new U.S. Congress will effectuate immigration reform this coming year, but noted that most of the dialogue during the recent state and nation elections wasn’t helpful. Most politicians competed over who was tougher on immigrants.

The bishops, on the other hand, see the issue through the principles of Catholic social teaching, he said.

“It’s a pastoral letter, not a public policy piece,” Johnson explained. “If congress can act and incorporate those principles in the next year, we’re going to be a lot better off as a society.”

Q&A with Bishop Olmsted

How is the Arizona bishops’ pastoral letter still relevant for us a year later?

Bishop Olmsted: In some ways, the situation, one year after the letter's debut, has change significantly. In particular, the political landscape is not the same. But our focus as bishops of Arizona is on the spiritual and pastoral situation. This has not changed significantly. What is still relevant today is our Christian duty to welcome newcomers into our midst and to recognize and defend the dignity of every human person. These are the primary issues that Catholics need to keep in mind when evaluating immigration reform. In addition, we cannot be blind to the suffering and poverty which prompts migrants to leave their homes and to look elsewhere for the basic necessities of life for themselves and their families.

What broader issues are involved in immigration reform?

Bishop Olmsted: Of course, immigration is only one way to remedy such situations of poverty and global inequality. We need also to seek ways to improve those situations of grave poverty. As we stated a year ago in the letter, we encourage our government to adopt trade and foreign aid policies that foster development that is fair and sustainable.

What steps can we take to become a more welcoming Church? How do we become a more welcoming Church?

Bishop Olmsted: Good question. Certainly, it has to begin with personal conversion and prayer. It needs to take place in each family, where children are welcomed as a gift and where neighbors are received as Christ. When our families inculcate a spirit of hospitality, then our parishes will be prepared to do so as well. Celebrations of our ethnic and devotional diversity at the parish and diocesan level can help us to understand one another better while uniting us in Christ around the altar of the Lord. Devotion to Mary has always helped us to see others as children as God because she is mother of the whole Church. In our Diocese, it is especially appropriate to foster devotion to the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of America.