On Sunday, September 28, the weather was warm and the atmosphere was both festive and filled with purpose as crowds of people gathered for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. This year’s procession possessed a more intense resolve as a prayerful and prophetic witness of Catholics in solidarity with immigrants, migrants and refugees who are being assaulted, disappeared and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Nearly 1,000 people participated in the three hour, two mile procession from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart parish in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood to St. Matthew’s Cathedral just south of Dupont Circle.
Leading the faithful was Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala of the Archdiocese of Washington who came to this country from El Salvador many years ago as an undocumented immigrant. Bishop Menjivar began the event at the steps of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart with a prayer and words of encouragement. “Choose hope,” he said. “Many people choose anxiety and despair. But faith and hope are gifts, and we have to ask for them.” He gave a blessing invoking peace over the event, and also acknowledged those who could not attend because they were afraid to do so.
As the procession – with a swelling crowd of pilgrims and lively music broadcast from a mobile cart – made its way down 16th Street, participants paused at seven stops to reflect on scripture and to hear powerful stories of those who have come to this country through many trials and hardships. Pax Christi USA Executive Director Charlene Howard (right) and Anna Gallagher, executive director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network and Pax Christi USA member, were two of the readers along the route, as were staff members from the Franciscan Action Network, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, and other peace groups.
Mass was celebrated at St. Matthew’s Cathedral by the Archdiocese of Washington’s Cardinal Robert McElroy. During his homily, Cardinal McElroy said, “In the Gospel today, Jesus demands that the central perspective we must bring to understanding the moral legitimacy of the campaign of fear and deportation being waged in our country today springs from the bonds of community that have come to tie us together as neighbors with the undocumented, not the question of whether sometime in the past individuals broke a law by entering or remaining in the United States.”
The September 28 procession was one of a growing number of similar actions being conducted all over the United States following the March 24 event conducted in the Diocese of El Paso, Texas where Pax Christi USA Bishop President John Stowe of Lexington, KY joined El Paso’s Bishop Mark Seitz – chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration – and others in a nonviolent witness against the inhumane deportations of members of the community. Prayer vigils have also taken place in the Archdiocese of Detroit, led by Archbishop Ed Weisenburger (who presided over the closing Mass of the Pax Christi USA national conference in July) and the Archdiocese of Seattle, presided over by Archbishop Paul Etienne, with many other faith communities following suit.
Related: Pax Christi USA stands in solidarity with immigrants to challenge campaign of terror, written by Ambassador of Peace Scott Wright
One Church One Family public witnesses, Oct. 22 and Nov. 13
Pax Christi USA is one of the partners of the One Church One Family Catholic Public Witness for Immigrants which will take place October 22 and November 13 across the United States.
From the website: On October 22 and November 13, Catholics across the US are invited to join in a national day of public witness for our immigrant brothers and sisters. This effort builds on the binational mass at the US-Mexico border in San Luis, just 10 days earlier on October 12, in which bishops from both countries will call attention to the urgent crisis facing migrants and celebrates the feast day of St. Frances Cabrini, the patron saint of migrants, on November 13.
Dioceses, parishes, schools, religious communities, and other institutions and organizations are invited to host public actions that lift up the dignity of migrants — especially in the places where that dignity is most often denied. This may be a vigil in front of a detention center, a prayer service at a place where migrants were publicly detained, or a rosary accompanying people who are going to immigration court hearings. We call on all Catholics to witness to the richness of our traditions and teachings on migration.
- Use this link to register your public witness.
- Interested in learning more about a public witness in your area? Please email UWEJustice@jesuits.org
- Use this link to find resources to plan a public witness in your area and to act in solidarity with immigrants.
As Catholics and people of deep faith, we reject the culture of fear and silence that dehumanizes, and we choose instead to stand with migrants. Together, our voices will send a powerful message in defense of the dignity of our neighbors, family members, fellow parishioners, classmates, coworkers, and friends. We are one church. One family.
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