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Twenty Things We Can Do to Support Immigrants
- Prayer to Welcome the Newcomer
A) Catholic Charities USA prayer for welcoming the newcomer
B) A Prayer for Immigrant Justice
- Use scripture to deepen your capacity to welcome the newcomer:
- Strengthen your immigrant vocabulary
- Alien: A person who is not a citizen of the country where they reside.
- Detainee: A person who is not a citizen (an alien) who is held in the custody of the government temporarily.
- Émigré: A person forced to leave their country for political reasons.
- Immigrant: A person who enters a country for the purpose of living.
- Emigrant: A person who leaves their country to live elsewhere.
- Asylum: Legal permission to live in a country granted in special cases to people fleeing danger or persecution in the homelands.
- Refugee: A person who flees his or her native land to escape persecution or danger.
- Gather and share accurate an current information on immigration
Justice for Immigrants - http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org
National Immigration Law Center - http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/CIR/index.htm
- Reach out to potentially vulnerable groups in your church and local community.
- Participate in cultural awareness learning opportunities.
- Involve yourself in advocacy activities on behalf of immigrants including actions at the local, national and international level
- Understand the provisions of pending federal legislation regarding immigration reform:
- Be familiar with Catholic social teaching about immigration:
- Ecclesia in America Pope John Paul II 1/22/99
- Exsul Familia Pope Pius XII 8/1/52
- Laborem Ecsrcens Pope John Paul II 9/14/81
- Pacem in Terris Pope John Paul XXIII 4/11/63 # 58;98;106
- Centesimus Annus Pope John Paul II 5/1/91 # 6-8;31.
- Rerum Novarum Pope LeoXIII 5/15/ 1981
- Sollicitudio Rei Socialis Pope John Paul II 12/30/87 #38
- Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope: A Pastoral Letter Concerning Migration from the Catholic Bishops of Mexico and the United States 11/2002
- World Day of Migration Message
2000 'I was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me"
2001 The Pastoral Care of Migrants, A Way of Accomplishing the Mission of
the Church Today
2002 Migration and Inter-Religious Dialogue
2003 Call to Overcome All Racism, Xenophobia and Exaggerated Nationalism
2004 Migration with a View to Peace
2005 Intercultural Integration
2006 Migration: A Sign of the Times
- Understand the 5 principles that guide Catholic Social Teaching on immigration:
- Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland (Strangers #34)
- Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families (Strangers #35)
- Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders. (Strangers # 36)
- Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection. (Strangers #37)
- The human dignity and human rights of undocumented immigrants should be respected. (Strangers #38)
- Form a study group around Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.
- Schedule a time for recent and established immigrants to come and share their experiences with your parish community.
- Find a way to participate in National Migration Week: January 8th - January 14th 2006.
- Find creative ways to offer hospitality to immigrants.
- Consider your worship space and find ways for it to actively reflect the presence of the immigrant communities.
- Reach out especially to immigrant children and youth, creating an environment in which they know they are welcome and free to participate.
- Participate in the preparation of immigrant workers as catechists.
- Be aware of the services available to immigrants and assist immigrants in accessing these services.
- Identify ways to support local immigrant families and those families left behind.
- Offer to participate in sacramental preparation of immigrants and their families.
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