Catholic Sisters Promote Comprehensive Immigration Reform
The outpouring of support for the victims of the May 12 immigration raid on the kosher meat processing plant in Postville, Ia., has been widely reported and acknowledged. What is needed now, say the Catholic Sisters of the Upper Mississippi Valley, is comprehensive immigration reform.
Calls for comprehensive immigration reform also have come from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the U.S. Catholic bishops, the Iowa Catholic Conference, and religious leaders of all faiths throughout Iowa and the nation.
"We need to make the system fair, to eliminate the backlog of 15 or more years for people's papers to be handled, and to create a means to reunite undocumented people with their blood relatives, "said Sister Judy Callahan, BVM, Director of Hispanic Ministry for the Archdiocese of Dubuque where last month's raid occurred.
To help persuade legislators and candidates for public office to pay attention to the plight of undocumented workers and their families, the Sisters are taking out radio and newspaper ads in media across the state.
Radio stations across the region will be airing their recording beginning this week and throughout the month of June. Newspapers throughout the Upper Mississippi Valley where sisters are ministering with immigrants and the families of the undocumented workers will carry their pleas for help at the same time.
Recorded by Clinton Franciscan Sister Hilary Mullany, and produced through Sisters United News (SUN), the communicators for sponsoring congregations, the spot's message is:
Most Americans have compassion for suffering people. Yet some turn a cold shoulder to the anguish of undocumented families torn apart by the recent federal raids.
Like Scandinavian, European and Asian people before them, today's immigrants come seeking only freedom and a better life for their children. Contact your legislators and candidates today to urge immediate action for comprehensive immigration reform.
A message from the Catholic Sisters of this area.
The radio spot ad will air on stations WOC AM, Davenport; KDTH / KAT FM, Dubuque; KROS AM, Clinton; KCLN AM, Clinton; KSCJ AM, Sioux City; and WMT AM & FM / KISS FM, Cedar Rapids.
This is the second round of radio ads by the consortium of Sisters. In January 2007 they responded to a similar but much smaller raid at a meat packing plant in Marshalltown, Ia. In the spring of 2002, they mounted a state-wide billboard campaign urging readers to "Welcome the immigrant you once were."
Now Iowa's Catholic Sisters are asking that the individual acts of compassion for the distraught immigrants and their families who are facing separation and deportation be extended to include contacting legislators and candidates about the urgent need for comprehensive immigration reform.
Catholic Sisters first came to Iowa over 175 years ago, immigrants themselves, to work with immigrants and they continue to do so today in various locations throughout the state. Their first-hand knowledge of the plight of undocumented workers and their families as well as the needs of local employers and the importance of the rule of law gives them a unique perspective.
"It is the dignity and the social nature of the human person, the call to community, the call to build and recognize our relationships as human beings and to care for each other that creates the common good and builds the solidarity of the human family," said Jan Cebula OSF, president of the Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Ia.
"Our commitment to the common good is the life-blood of our democracy," stated Cebula. "It compels us to act and to encourage all citizens to join in the search for a just and equitable solution to the immigration crisis in our nation."
SISTERS UNITED NEWS (SUN) comprises communicators of 11 religious congregations of the Upper Mississippi Valley including the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, LaCrosse, Wis.; the Sinsinawa Dominicans, Sinsinawa, Wis.; Sisters of St. Francis, Dubuque; IA.; Sisters of Charity BVM, Dubuque, Ia.; Sisters of the Presentation, Dubuque, IA.; Trappistine Nuns, Dubuque, IA.; Sisters of Mercy, Cedar Rapids, Ia.; Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Ia.; Carmelite Nuns, Eldridge, Ia.; Sisters of Humility, Davenport, Ia.; Benedictine Sisters, Rock Island, Ill.
Collaborating for maximum impact and mutual support, SUN is dedicated to promoting and publicizing the values of Catholic Sisters living the Gospel in today's world.
MORE ON THE NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
"It is vital that we support the efforts of our legislators to bring the issue of comprehensive immigration reform back to the floor of the House and the Senate," said Jan Cebula OSF, president of the Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Ia...
"This humanitarian crisis in our own state - a crisis that is being repeated in California and many other areas that are enduring similar raids - demonstrates that this issue can no longer be ignored. We must enact systemic reform of our country's broken immigration system," she said.
"The principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) stem from the solidarity of the human family and our commitment to the common good - a virtue that seeks to go beyond itself to forgiveness and reconciliation. It leads to a new vision of the unity of humankind. It is the unity that binds us together and extends our compassion to all people. Solidarity includes the Scriptural call to welcome the stranger among us-including immigrants seeking work, a safe home, education for their children, and a decent life for their families."
"Our commitment to CST impels us to stand with the poor and vulnerable, to uphold everyone's fundamental right to life and the necessities of life including the right to work and to be treated fairly at work," said Cebula.
In his statement on May 12, Archbishop Jerome Hanus of Dubuque, Ia., noted:
This state of terror for families is evidence that our political system has not adequately addressed the demand for labor, the inadequacies of our present immigration policies and practices, and the broader economic challenges. Some of the weakest members among us are bearing the brunt of the suffering, while legislators and other leaders, as well as many of us in the general public, have failed to give this issue the priority that it deserves.
Leaders in the Roman Catholic community, as well as many other religious leaders, have called for comprehensive immigration reform which strives:
To create legal avenues for workers and their families who wish to enter our country and work in a safe, legal, and orderly manner with their rights fully protected.
To develop border protection policies that are consistent with humanitarian values and with the need to treat all individuals with respect.
To allow authorities to carry out the critical task of identifying and preventing entry of terrorists and dangerous criminals, as well as pursuing the legitimate task of implementing American immigration policy