Welcoming the Stranger

1
Welcoming the Stranger
2

• We are called to awaken to the mysterious
  presence of the crucified and risen Lord in the
  person of the migrant.

3

• Migrants and immigrants are in our parishes and
  in our communities. In both our countries, we see
  much injustice and violence against them and much
  suffering and despair among them because civil
  and church structures are still inadequate to
  accommodate their basic needs.

4

• We judge ourselves as a community of faith by the
  way we treat the most vulnerable among us.

5

• The treatment of migrants challenges the
  consciences of elected officials, policymakers,
  enforcement officers, residents of border
  communities, and providers of legal aid and
  social services, many of whom share our Catholic
  faith.

At this rally in Boston, U.S. citizens are
calling upon elected officials to act with
compassion. The crosses represent the lives lost
by thousands of immigrants trying to enter the
U.S. in search of work to feed their families.
6

• Catholic teaching has a long and rich tradition
  in promoting hospitality and defending
  immigrants.
• The Scriptures, and the life and model of Jesus,
  are the basis of the Church's present teaching on
  immigration.

7
OLD TESTAMENT

• The model of Abraham receiving strangers in
  welcoming hospitality is in Genesis18
• You shall not oppress an alien you well know
  how it feels to be an alien. Exodus 29
• You shall treat the alien who resides with you
  no differently than the natives born among you
  have the same love for him as for yourself.
  Leviticus 1934

8
New Testament

• The Visitation a model of compassionate
  hospitality.
• Luke 139-45

9
New Testament

• The Holy Family immigrants in a strange land.
• Mt 2 13-23

10

• Our common faith in Jesus Christ moves us to
  search for ways that favor a spirit of
  solidarity. It is a faith that transcends borders
  and bids us to overcome all forms of
  discrimination and violence so that we may build
  relationships that are just and loving.

11

• For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was
  thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you
  welcomed me whatever you did for one of these
  least brothers of mine, you did for me.
  -Matthew 25 36,40

12
New Testament

• Love one another with mutual affectionexercise
  hospitality. -Romans 9-10, 13
• Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect
  hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly
  entertained angels. -Hebrews 13 1-2

13

• The word of God and Catholic social teaching also
  bring to light the causes that give rise to
  migrations, as well as the consequences that they
  have on the communities of origin and
  destination.

14
The Modern Era

• Pope Pius XII affirmed that all peoples have the
  right to conditions worthy of human life and, if
  these conditions are not present, the right to
  migrate.

15
The Modern Era

• Pope John XXIII "Every human being has the right
  to freedom of movement and the right to emigrate
  to other countries and take up residence there."

16
Pope John Paul II,at the Basilica of Our Lady
of Guadalupe, Mexico, 1993, declared

• We are called to awaken to the mysterious
  presence of the crucified and risen Lord in the
  person of the migrant.

17

• Pope John Paul II in his 1995 message for World
  Migration Day, notes that undocumented migrants
  are used by developed nations as a source of
  labor and their contributions, rights and
  dignity must be recognized.
• Poverty is the cause of most migration.
  Ultimately elimination of global underdevelopment
  is the antidote to illegal immigration.

18
Message Of Pope Benedict XVIFor The World Day
of Migrants and Refugees (2007)

• In the Family of Nazareth, obliged to take
  refuge in Egypt, we can catch a glimpse of the
  painful condition in which all migrants live, the
  hardships and humiliations, the fragility of
  their well-being.
• The immigrant family must be ensured of a real
  possibility of inclusion and participation in
  their new homeland.

19
Five principles emerge from such teachings, which
guide the Church's view on migration issues.

• 1. Persons have the right to find opportunities
  in their homeland.

20

• 2. Persons have the right to migrate to support
  themselves and their families.

21

• 3. Sovereign nations have the right to control
  their borders.

22

• 4. Refugees and asylum seekers should be
  afforded protection

23

• 5. The human dignity and human rights of
  undocumented migrants should be respected.

24

• In 2000, the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued a
  statement on immigration that has guided the
  American Churchs response to current and
  proposed immigration policies

25

• We witness the pain of our people involved in
  all sides of the migration phenomenon, including
  families devastated by the loss of loved ones.

26

• The human dignity and human rights of all
  documented and undocumented migrants should be
  respected.
• Regardless of their legal status, migrants
  possess human dignity. Government policies that
  respect human rights are necessary.

27
We urge communities to offer migrant families
and workers hospitality, not hostility, along
their journey. We encourage social services,
citizenship classes, community organizing efforts
for improved housing, decent wages, better
medical attention, and appropriate educational
opportunities for immigrants and refugees.
28

• The Bishops tell us
• Making legal the large number of undocumented
  workers would help to stabilize the labor market
  in the U. S., to preserve family unity, and to
  improve the standard of living in immigrant
  communities.

29
U.S. Bishops Recommendationson Immigrant Workers

• We advocate reform of the 1996 immigration laws
  that have undermined some basic human rights for
  immigrants.
• We join with others of good will in a call for
  legalization opportunities for the maximum number
  of undocumented persons.
• U.S. employment-based immigration system should
  be reformed to feature both permanent and
  temporary visa programs for laborers.

30
Resources are just a click awaywww.justiceforimm
igrants.org
31

• Our common faith in Jesus Christ moves us to
  search for ways to treat all immigrants in a
  spirit of solidarity.
• It is a faith that transcends borders and bids
  us to overcome all forms of discrimination and
  violence

32

• Catholic teaching also states that the root
  causes of migrationpoverty, injustice, religious
  intolerance, armed conflictsmust be addressed so
  that migrants can remain in their homeland and
  support their families.

33

• Pope John Paul II also addressed the more
  controversial topic of undocumented migration and
  the undocumented migrant. In his 1995 message for
  World Migration Day, he notes that such migrants
  are used by developed nations as a source of
  labor. Ultimately, the pope says, elimination of
  global underdevelopment is the antidote to
  illegal immigration.

34

• The Church recognizes the right of a sovereign
  state to control its borders in furtherance of
  the common good. It also recognizes the right of
  human persons to migrate so that they can realize
  their God-given rights. These teachings
  complement each other.

35

• We stand in solidarity with you, our migrant
  brothers and sisters, and we will continue to
  advocate on your behalf for just and fair
  migration policies.

36

• We commit ourselves to animate communities of
  Christ's disciples on both sides of the border to
  accompany you on your journey so that yours will
  truly be a journey of hope, not of despair, and
  so that, at the point of arrival, you will
  experience that you are strangers no longer and
  instead members of God's household.
• We pray that, wherever you go, you will always be
  conscious of your dignity as human beings and of
  your call to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ,
  who came that we "might have life and have it
  more abundantly" (Jn 1010).

37
The End