Lesson 3

At the start of the new millennium, the Catholic Bishops of the United States published their pastoral letter, Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity, which used the framework provided by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America. In his exhortation, Pope John Paul II called Catholics to conversion, communion, and solidarity. Turning to the phenomenon of immigration in the America’s, he recognized the complicated and often fraught nature of the situation, but affirmed that the Church “is committed to spare no effort in developing her own pastoral strategy among these immigrant people, in order to help them settle in their new land and to foster a welcoming attitude among the local population, in the belief that a mutual openness will bring enrichment to all.” (#65).

Rejecting the “nativism, the racism, and the ethnocentrism” that had at times informed an anti-immigrant posture, the Catholic bishops in their pastoral letter reflected on the condition of immigrant communities in the United States and the proper disposition that we should take toward them, both pastorally and politically. The call to conversion challenged Catholics to discern the ways in which they have at times provided an unwelcome presence to migrants living among them and the need to repent for these failings. The call to communion challenged Catholics to expand their understanding of the many cultures that share in our Catholic faith and to emphasize hospitality in this effort. The call to solidarity urged Catholics to live in unity with migrants, through advocacy efforts in defense of their rights as persons, through pastoral care that respects their distinctive cultural norms and language traditions, and through the provision of social services via diocesan or parish programs.

“Without condoning undocumented migration, the Church supports the human rights of all people and offers them pastoral care, education, and social services, no matter what the circumstances of entry into this country, and it works for the respect of the human dignity of all—especially those who find themselves in desperate circumstances.” – Welcoming the Stranger Among Us

These pastoral commitments had political implications; the Church was not walled off from the world but part of a larger community. Migrants, even those without legal status, were also part of these same communities, often with families, and often extremely vulnerable. Given that they are “created as they are in the image of God, [and] possess a fundamental dignity that gives rise to a more compelling claim to the conditions worthy of human life,” it is proper to consider how to create the conditions that will allow all persons to thrive. For Church leadership, an important feature of this effort focused on how to deal with the millions of people living in the United States in irregular status. Given the significant disruptions that any mass deportation process would entail, and the unlikelihood that such an effort could be effectively implemented, the bishops again called for a generous legalization process, “particularly those who have built equities and otherwise contributed to their communities.”

Although such a request contrasted with the emphasis on immigration enforcement that had become ascendant during the nineties, as late as September 6, 2001, passage of an immigration reform package that would include some form of relief for undocumented migrants had become a real possibility. Five days before 9/11, during a joint session before Congress, President Vicente Fox of Mexico asked Congress to regularize migrants living in the United States in unauthorized status and institute other reforms that would help to rationalize migration flows across the US/Mexico border. (at 39:36)

President Fox addressed a joint meeting of Congress about U.S.-Mexico relations. In his remarks he emphasized trust between the two countries and talked about a variety of issues including migration, free trade, democracy in Mexico, and the war on drugs (September 6, 2001). Credit: C-Span

A joint statement issued that same day by The United States of America and the United Mexican States offered a shared framework regarding migration between the two countries. It affirmed the importance of developing an immigration system that would tackle root causes, hash out a mutually satisfactory results on border safety, establish a temporary worker program, and resolve the status of undocumented Mexicans in the United States.

In advance of the September 2001 summit in Washington DC between their two leaders, the governments of both the United States and Mexico established a working group on migration responsible for developing a bilateral agreement on immigration that touched on issues related to border security, legalization, and a temporary visa program. In May, two new initiatives were launched. The first sought to discourage migration through high-risk areas, and the second provided a shared mechanism to engage in humanitarian rescue missions for migrants at risk (Rosenblum, 2011).

Running parallel to these efforts, the Catholic bishops of the United States held a series of meetings with the Mexican bishops’ Commission for Human Mobility in the spring of 2001, with more meetings planned for later that fall. These meetings were part of the groundwork for the eventual publication of their joint-pastoral letter, Strangers No Longer. These initial meetings focused on a range of issues related to migrant protection, their human rights, and pastoral concerns. Taken together, these discrete but overlapping efforts pointed in the direction of an immigration reform bill that was widely expected to curry enough support in Washington, DC to become law.

What was once a promising possibility quickly unraveled; the 9/11 terrorist attacks disrupted plans for a substantive immigration reform bill and further entrenched the migration issue as a national security issue. Within several years of 9/11, Congress and the Bush Administration implemented legislation and administrative policies that emphasized security within the immigration system. This included certain provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, reforms to the visa security system (2002: Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act) and expanded use of surveillance and border security (2004: Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act). (Rosenblum, 2011).

Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope

Although the prospect of any legislative effort to deal with this issue was indefinitely postponed following 9/11, the Catholic bishops of the United States continued to work closely with their counterparts in Mexico to make sense of the immigration issue and explore how the Church might more effectively address this issue. These conversations led to the release of their joint pastoral letter, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope (SNL), which provided a Catholic framework for responding to the reality migration in their respective countries and in the Americas as a whole.

This letter takes its inspiration from St. Paul, who, in the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, states: “. . . you are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.” He is writing here to the Gentile Christians at Ephesus who had been “excluded” from the people of God, since they were not members of the chosen people of Israel. But now God has revealed Himself to all people and given all nations access to membership in the people of God through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ on the Cross.

SNL offered pastoral guidance to Catholics who encounter and engage migrants, including undocumented immigrants, migrant children, and asylees, who were living and working in their communities. The letter also suggested systematic reforms to U.S. migration policy and presented an alternative to the existing immigration paradigm. Given the joint nature of the letter, SNL focuses primarily on the immigration situation between Mexico and the United States, although its teachings are applicable to a more international context. Nevertheless, the bishops emphasized that the “current relationship (between Mexico and the US) is weakened by inconsistent and divergent policies that are not coordinated and, in many cases, address only the symptoms of the migration phenomenon and not its root causes.” These inconsistent policy decisions have helped to create economic, political, and social conditions that have significantly affected migration patterns and led to a wide range of unintended consequences that have exacerbated the problem of illegal immigration.

One of the key features of Strangers No Longer is the inclusion of five principles that aim to guide the thinking of Catholics on this issue:

I. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland.

III. Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders.

IV. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection.

These principles will be examined more thoroughly in a future module. Suffice it to say for the moment, they are not created out of whole cloth but are rooted in the moral tradition of the Church. They take for granted the inherent worth of the human person, their families, and of the communities in which people live and are formed. Migration should be chosen and not forced on a person because of economic need, environmental catastrophe, violence, or other cause. Legal status, or the lack thereof, should not be used as a rationale to discriminate or deprive populations of what they need to survive and thrive in this world.

As a follow up to the pastoral letter, the Catholic bishops of the United States committed to immigration reform as a priority of the U.S. Catholic Church, and to creating a culture of welcome in which all migrants are treated with respect and dignity. In 2005, a diverse group of national Catholic organizations joined the U.S. Catholic bishops to establish the Justice for Immigrants Campaign (JFI) to pull together a network of national Catholic institutions who supported the passage of immigration reform. Despite noted resistance to such an effort, this campaign continued to advocate for reform of the immigration system and helped to further define some of the contours that should comprise any successful reform effort.

President Fox addressed a joint meeting of Congress about U.S.-Mexico relations. In his remarks he emphasized trust between the two countries and talked about a variety of issues including migration, free trade, democracy in Mexico, and the war on drugs (September 6, 2001). Credit: C-Span

A joint statement issued that same day by The United States of America and the United Mexican States offered a shared framework regarding migration between the two countries. It affirmed the importance of developing an immigration system that would tackle root causes, hash out a mutually satisfactory results on border safety, establish a temporary worker program, and resolve the status of undocumented Mexicans in the United States.

In advance of the September 2001 summit in Washington DC between their two leaders, the governments of both the United States and Mexico established a working group on migration responsible for developing a bilateral agreement on immigration that touched on issues related to border security, legalization, and a temporary visa program. In May, two new initiatives were launched. The first sought to discourage migration through high-risk areas, and the second provided a shared mechanism to engage in humanitarian rescue missions for migrants at risk (Rosenblum, 2011).

Running parallel to these efforts, the Catholic bishops of the United States held a series of meetings with the Mexican bishops’ Commission for Human Mobility in the spring of 2001, with more meetings planned for later that fall. These meetings were part of the groundwork for the eventual publication of their joint-pastoral letter, Strangers No Longer. These initial meetings focused on a range of issues related to migrant protection, their human rights, and pastoral concerns. Taken together, these discrete but overlapping efforts pointed in the direction of an immigration reform bill that was widely expected to curry enough support in Washington, DC to become law.

What was once a promising possibility quickly unraveled; the 9/11 terrorist attacks disrupted plans for a substantive immigration reform bill and further entrenched the migration issue as a national security issue. Within several years of 9/11, Congress and the Bush Administration implemented legislation and administrative policies that emphasized security within the immigration system. This included certain provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, reforms to the visa security system (2002: Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act) and expanded use of surveillance and border security (2004: Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act). (Rosenblum, 2011).

Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope

Although the prospect of any legislative effort to deal with this issue was indefinitely postponed following 9/11, the Catholic bishops of the United States continued to work closely with their counterparts in Mexico to make sense of the immigration issue and explore how the Church might more effectively address this issue. These conversations led to the release of their joint pastoral letter, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope (SNL), which provided a Catholic framework for responding to the reality migration in their respective countries and in the Americas as a whole.

This letter takes its inspiration from St. Paul, who, in the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, states: “. . . you are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.” He is writing here to the Gentile Christians at Ephesus who had been “excluded” from the people of God, since they were not members of the chosen people of Israel. But now God has revealed Himself to all people and given all nations access to membership in the people of God through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ on the Cross.

SNL offered pastoral guidance to Catholics who encounter and engage migrants, including undocumented immigrants, migrant children, and asylees, who were living and working in their communities. The letter also suggested systematic reforms to U.S. migration policy and presented an alternative to the existing immigration paradigm. Given the joint nature of the letter, SNL focuses primarily on the immigration situation between Mexico and the United States, although its teachings are applicable to a more international context. Nevertheless, the bishops emphasized that the “current relationship (between Mexico and the US) is weakened by inconsistent and divergent policies that are not coordinated and, in many cases, address only the symptoms of the migration phenomenon and not its root causes.” These inconsistent policy decisions have helped to create economic, political, and social conditions that have significantly affected migration patterns and led to a wide range of unintended consequences that have exacerbated the problem of illegal immigration.

One of the key features of Strangers No Longer is the inclusion of five principles that aim to guide the thinking of Catholics on this issue:

I. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland.

III. Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders.

IV. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection.

These principles will be examined more thoroughly in a future module. Suffice it to say for the moment, they are not created out of whole cloth but are rooted in the moral tradition of the Church. They take for granted the inherent worth of the human person, their families, and of the communities in which people live and are formed. Migration should be chosen and not forced on a person because of economic need, environmental catastrophe, violence, or other cause. Legal status, or the lack thereof, should not be used as a rationale to discriminate or deprive populations of what they need to survive and thrive in this world.

As a follow up to the pastoral letter, the Catholic bishops of the United States committed to immigration reform as a priority of the U.S. Catholic Church, and to creating a culture of welcome in which all migrants are treated with respect and dignity. In 2005, a diverse group of national Catholic organizations joined the U.S. Catholic bishops to establish the Justice for Immigrants Campaign (JFI) to pull together a network of national Catholic institutions who supported the passage of immigration reform. Despite noted resistance to such an effort, this campaign continued to advocate for reform of the immigration system and helped to further define some of the contours that should comprise any successful reform effort.