Justice For Immigrants

Justice for Immigrants

Five Ways To Help Stop Family Separation at Our U.S. Border   Pray: You can find a prayer for migrant children here. Speak Up: Sign this Action Alert and share with your friends. Also consider contacting your senators and representative directly by phone to voice your concern. You can find the number for your representative here and your senators here. Take Action: Contact your local Catholic Charities affiliate to learn about their material/volunteer needs, consider fostering an unaccompanied child, or join the Share the Journey global solidarity campaign with migrants and refugees. Give: To support agencies that are helping families and children impacted by the crisis. (100% of your donation will go to the 21 Catholic Charities agencies assisting unaccompanied children.) Learn More: To learn more about Family Separation, visit the Justice For Immigrants (JFI) "Family Separation Webpage" to review backgrounders, educational material and a webinar.     Thanks for all you do for the most vulnerable,   Sincerely,   Mary Beth Phillips Respect Life and Social Concerns Coordinator  Office of Human Life and Dignity Catholic Diocese of Raleigh 919-719-8267         See what's happening on our social sites ‌

The Justice for Immigrants Campaign of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a new video Immigration and the Catholic Church with the comments:

The Catholic Church in the United States has been closely involved on issues related to immigration for over two hundred years. This video highlights the efforts that the Church has undertaken in the past and continues to do so in the present. Advocating on behalf of immigrant communities and providing pastoral support is central to the Church's work. For more information regarding what the Church is doing today, please visit the Migration and Refugee Services website.

To access homily helps, a bulletin insert with advocacy information, a pulpit announcement and backgrounders on questions about immigration reform which can be used in meetings with legislators, click on this link for Parish Advocacy Materials.  At the top of the page is a post card that can be sent to your legislator electronically. You may call, email or make an appointment with your Representative in his or her office, or attend Town Hall meetings in your district to show your support for comprehensive immigration reform which preserves family unity and provides a path to citizenship.Questions? Contact Mary Beth Phillips in the Pro-Life Office of the Diocese of Raleigh.

See Statement of Immigration Principles from the Bishops of North Carolina 

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops supports immigration reform that is comprehensive in nature and that facilitates the following goals:

• Provides a path to citizenship for undocumented persons in our country;
• Preserves family unity as a corner-stone of our national immigration system;
• Provides legal paths for low-skilled immigrant workers to come and work in the United States;
• Restores due process protections to our immigration enforcement policies; assurance that our laws are enforced in ways that recognize the importance the sanctity of the human person, the incomparable value of the family and maintains the integrity of our national borders;
• Addresses the root causes of migration, such as persecution and economic disparity.

Comprehensive reform to our national immigration policy should never add to the risk of admitting terrorists, but instead is to ensure that government authorities can identify and monitor those entering our country. If a migrant enters legally, that migrant will be known to the national government and necessarily be subject to appropriate background checks. Today, persons who enter our country illegally are often not known to the government nor can their whereabouts be monitored. Learn more about the teaching of the Church on immigration. 

Primary source used for these bulletin insert texts: Office of Migration and Refugee Policy, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Seven Key Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

Immigration - Learn the Issues

Immigration - Facts and Figures

Justice for Immigrants Parish Kit

Implementing a Justice for Immigrants Campaign in the Parish

 

Prayer for Migrants and Refugees   

Mary Most Holy, you, together with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus,

experienced the suffering of exile.

You were forced to flee to Egypt to escape the persecution of Herod.

Today we entrust the men, women and children who live as migrants and refugees to your maternal protection.

Grant us the grace to welcome them with Christian hospitality,

so that these brothers and sisters of ours may find acceptance and understanding on their journey.

Teach us to recognize your Son

in the migrant who labors to bring food to our tables

in the refugee seeking protection from persecution, war, and famine

in the woman and child who are victims of human trafficking

in the asylum seeker imprisoned for fleeing without documents

May all those who are far from their place of birth find in the

Church a home where no one is a stranger.

We ask this in the name of your blessed Son, Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.