Stewards share journey of hope

By Br. Steve Herro, O.Praem.

	Stewardship Stewardship: A Way of Life is the diocesan thrust. It invites Catholics to acknowledge that all of life is a gift of God and to respond through prayer, service and sharing. This series will look at ways to do that.

"We speak as two Episcopal conferences but as one Church, united in the view that migration between our two nations is necessary and beneficial," Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: "Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope," 2003, #2.

Br. Steve Herro

So began the first letter the U.S. bishops ever co-authored with bishops from another country. Reading the document today shows that the bishops were at least two years ahead of immigration legislation Congress proposed in 2005.

The bishops' letter depends heavily on Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Ecclesia in America," 1999, #65: "In its history, America has experienced many immigrations, as waves of men and women came to its various regions in the hope for a better future.... The church is committed to spare no effort in developing her own pastoral strategy among these immigrant people ... in the belief that a mutual openness will bring enrichment to all." John Paul II inspired the authors to write so courageously that the mysterious presence of the crucified and risen Lord is found in the migrant.

The bishops clearly state that they write for migrants, elected officials in the U.S. and Mexico, government personnel who enforce immigration law, and finally, the people of the United States and Mexico. The immigration issue affects all of us. We judge ourselves as a community of faith by the way we treat the least of our brothers and sisters.

Perhaps the specificity of the letter touches me most. Our bishops state that: persons have the right to find economic opportunities in their homeland and the right to migrate to support themselves and their families; sovereign nations have the right to control their borders; refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection; and the human dignity and human rights of undocumented workers should be respected.

One has to be impressed by the clarity in which the writers connect economic inopportunities in Latin America with the increased need to immigrate to the United States: "Only a long term effort that adjusts economic inequalities between the United States and Mexico will provide Mexican workers with employment opportunities that will allow them to remain home and to support themselves and their families," (#60).

I join the bishops in asking, "What policies are the United States and Mexican governments going to adopt to increase the standard of living of low income Mexicans in order that they may live a life of dignity in their homelands? Can you please address the root cause of the problem instead of enforcement only solutions? What lessons have we learned since the decline of the standard of living of small Mexican farmers and crafts people since the implementation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (1995)?"

I am moved by the bishops' strong support for family unification: "As pastors, we are troubled by how the current amalgamation of immigration laws, policies, and actions pursued by both governments often impedes family unity.... In order to insure that families remain together, reform of the U.S. family-based immigration categories vis-à-vis Mexico is necessary," (#64, 66). The bishops hit the nail on the head, "It is all about protecting the most basic unit of human organization, the family."

The bishops address a number of other issues, including the necessity of pastoral services and legal assistance and prevention of human trafficking. Their concluding use of Pope John Paul II's 1995 World Migration Day message says it all, "In the church, no one is a stranger, and the church is not foreign to anyone, anywhere. As a sacrament of unity and thus a sign and binding force for the whole human race, the church is the place where illegal immigrants are also recognized and accepted as brothers and sisters." (#103)

The letter is at www.usccb.org/mrs/stranger.shtml; it can be ordered at 1-800-235-8722, publication No. 5-529).

(Br. Herro is the social concerns consultant for the Green Bay Diocese.)