Matthew Gambino
Immigration has become one of the most contentious moral issues of our time. People have strong views on many aspects of the matter and voices have frequently become argumentative.
Beyond points of argument are the real effects of a broken immigration system on real people – legal visitors, the undocumented, and legal citizens – living in fear of family separation and harsh detention, and unfortunately facing discrimination borne of the mortal sin of racism.
Fortunately, ministries operated by Catholic Charities of Philadelphia along with area parishes and individuals respond with Christ-like compassion every day to our immigrant neighbors and all those in need.
As we act, so we raise our needs in prayer to God.
Meeting immediate needs is job one, but Catholic citizens bear an added responsibility to address the systemic causes of injustice through peaceful advocacy with elected lawmakers and civic officials.
One prime example is the pro-life movement that continues to engage millions of Catholics in prayer and action over a long period of time to defend the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. Pro-life advocacy reminds us of the need to defend the dignity of every human person with a responsibility to uphold one another as children of God in a wide variety of ways.
A group of Catholics from the Philadelphia region and beyond rolled up their sleeves in this work by traveling to Washington, DC on March 5 to engage with their congressional delegation on the issue of meaningful immigration reform.
I joined approximately 41 people from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia – mostly lay Catholics along with numerous religious sisters and a few clergymen – plus Catholics from Camden, N.J., and Providence, Rhode Island and Baltimore for an advocacy pilgrimage to our nation’s capital.
We met with senior aides of congressional representatives and senators who were already well acquainted with Catholic positions on immigration reform thanks to the work of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Our task was to offer a personal witness in hopes of making a small contribution toward that goal. The religious sisters and lay people who work daily with residents and neighbors described their fears of arrest, detention, deportation or worse.
None of the visitors to Washington that day, including me, were legal experts. We delivered specific “asks” of our lawmakers: broad support for meaningful immigration reform; and their “yes” votes on bills regarding foreign-born religious workers in the U.S. and the fight against human trafficking.
We simply stood as witnesses to compassion and respect for human dignity that remains threatened at this time in our communities.
Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Cooke organized the day and led the Philadelphia contingent. His goal, he said, was to move immigration reform in a positive direction bit by bit.
That effort begins with one’s prayers. It advances to “accompaniment of (immigrants) where it’s possible to do that” followed by “catechesis of Catholic social teaching; and then today, advocacy,” he said.
A secondary effect of the day, he said, was that it brought together people who share common concerns.
One of them was Mercedes Valero, a mother of two young children, member of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Media, Delaware County and a volunteer with a local organization, the Dorothea Project.
Her worldview, she said, is grounded in Catholic social teaching with its emphasis on caring for the poor and marginalized.
“The immigrant community here can suffer greatly because of inhumane treatment. Standing up for that is why I’m here and why I got involved,” she said.
Her beliefs and her experience compelled her to take action by joining the pilgrimage to Washington.
“We are blessed to have a functional democracy where citizens are encouraged to participate. I feel like (advocacy is) a moral duty, a civic duty to participate in this sort of thing,” she said.
“Even if the representatives we’re meeting with are not Catholic themselves, I believe that Catholicism has the truth about morality and about how we should treat others.”
Advocacy in the form of phone calls, emails, letters, or an in-person visit isn’t hard to do because policy details are not required. Most important is one’s presence as a faithful citizen who votes. (Find your congressional representative and senators here.)
After visits to the congressional offices, the pilgrims gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception where Bishop Cooke celebrated Mass. That ended the day of action fittingly, with prayer.
Back home, the experience of the pilgrimage continues to inspire me to make known in a small way my own concerns about human dignity, justice, and Jesus’ law of love (Mt. 22:37-39) in America.
As Bishop Cooke said, small acts and prayers might “seem like they’re just a little drop of water in a big ocean,” but undertaken in community and over time, they are the best way to bring about positive change.
During this season of Lent, I suggest beginning a novena of prayer for immigration reform next Monday, March 16. The ninth day will culminate in the feast of St. Oscar Romero, March 24.
A prayer attributed to him offers a healthy perspective:
“We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We many never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
“We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”
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