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Young Americans, Mexicans experience faith on the border
By J.D. Long-García, The Catholic Sun
November 1, 2007
NOGALES, Mexico — The teens and young adults who filed off buses for Mass along the U.S.-Mexico border Oct. 21 confronted the wall that separates the two countries. While others see division, they saw unity.
The 100 or so young Catholics, who came together for an educational retreat Oct. 19-21 at Casa Misericordia, saw artists’ renderings of hope and fear painted on the border barrier.
One mural depicted an immigrant caught by a Border Patrol agent while illegally crossing the border. Above the image, someone had written in Spanish, “Live to be free. Die to stop being a slave.”
Other metallic images, called milagros, hung from the wall — caricatures of hands, coyotes, skulls and dollar signs.
The teens and young adults, from the dioceses of Phoenix and Tucson and the Archdiocese of Hermosillo, Mexico, saw these images in a different light after spending time together.
The weekend experience, which grew out of a partnership between the three dioceses and Catholic Relief Services called “Diocese Without Borders,” helped Catholics from the United States and Mexico get to know each other.
“You could feel the excitement. You could tell they wanted to be there,” said Jose Robles, director of Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Phoenix. “They were showing a lot of respect for each other.”
This is the second stage of an ongoing project the Office of Peace and Justice began in 2005. The first stage was a series of three immersion experiences with youth in each diocese.
“We can decide to go places and talk about what we did here,” Tricia Hoyt, director of the Office of Peace and Justice for the Phoenix Diocese, told the group.
Many of the participants were bilingual, while others communicated in broken English or Spanish.
Groups from each diocese took turns presenting an aspect of the complex immigration issue, from causes to possible solutions.
On Saturday morning, the group watched “Dying to Live,” a documentary about why immigrants leave their native land and the hardships suffered on the journey.
The young Catholics then examined newspapers and magazines for other “borders,” or social divisions. The group then discussed what values they had in common and where they differed.
Erica Dahl-Berdine from Catholic Relief Services spoke about the economics of immigration, explaining that the structures in place in the U.S. and Mexico predate the current immigration situation.
“The U.S. has to play an important part in the economic growth of both countries,” said Ignacio Rodriguez, associate director of the of the Office of Ethnic Ministries for the Phoenix Diocese.
The weekend was an eye-opener for Gerardo Ramos, a teen from San Felipe de Jesús Parish in Nogales, Ariz.
“I didn’t know some of the things immigrants have to struggle with to get here,” he said, referring to those who cross into the United States illegally. “A lot of them don’t make it.”
Liz Vazquez, a young Catholic from Agua Prieta, Mexico, spoke about Centro de Atención al Migrante Exodus, a center that feeds those who will or have already tried to cross the border at Iglesia Sagrada Familia, her home parish.
“If you bring people to centers like that, they’ll stop having their stereotypes,” she said in her discussion group. “An experience like that will help them understand.”
The “Diocese Without Borders” partnership began in 2002 when bishops of the three dioceses signed “Call to Commitment,” a pledge of solidarity. The dioceses then began sharing ministries, materials and exchanging popular and cultural customs.
“Working together, we intend to put our words into action and maintain a constant and purposeful awareness of one another,” the bishops stated in the document.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted added his name to the document after he began shepherding the Phoenix Diocese in 2003.
“For us the national borders should not be seen as barriers to keep us apart, but as a responsibility to be good citizens of our particular country and at the same time, true brothers and sisters of Christ to all,” he said.
“We also remind our people, especially our young people, of the virtue of hospitality, the time-honored tradition of welcoming the stranger,” the bishop added. “As Jesus says, ‘If you love only those who love you, what good is that?’”
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