UPDATED: Diocese to celebrate Justice for Immigrants Mass
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Bishop David M. O’ Connell, C.M., will celebrate a diocesan Justice for Immigrants Mass Oct. 11. An invitation has been extended to the faithful throughout the diocese, and all who share in this cause, to gather in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, for the 12:15 p.m. Mass.
For Catholics, comprehensive immigration reform in the United States is a moral imperative that supersedes political persuasion, Bishop O’ Connell said in a pastoral statement issued for the diocesan observance of Justice for Immigrants Sunday, July 14.
“Whatever we, as Catholics, can do to foster the hopes and dreams of those who see our country as their potential home is an imperative of the Gospel and of the Catholic Social Teaching based upon it, not of our political persuasion,” he said in the statement. “Prayer is a powerful prerogative and something that all of us can do.”
The push for comprehensive immigration reform throughout the Catholic Church in the United States is drawn upon the now 10-year-old pastoral letter issued by the U.S. Catholic bishops entitled “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.” The principles enunciated in that letter were echoed in a recent pastoral statement of the Catholic bishops of New Jersey, advocating the reform of “a badly broken system in our country.”
The key principles of immigration reform called for by the Church’s leaders are: a path to citizenship for the undocumented that is achievable, is set within a reasonable timeframe and includes the maximum number of persons; a system that protects the integrity of families; a program that allows low-skilled migrant workers to enter and work in the United States legally and safely, providing them with the option to apply for permanent residency and eventual citizenship.
“Comprehensive immigration reform is not Washington’s problem,” Bishop O’ Connell said. “It is a concern for all citizens of our country as well as those who hope to be, much as it was for our ancestors who arrived here with hopes for and dreams of a better life, ‘under God, with liberty and justice for all.’”
To learn more about the Justice for Immigrants campaign, go to www.justiceforimmigrants.org. To access the NJ Catholic bishops’ letter on immigration, visit trentonmonitor.com.
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Bishop David M. O’ Connell, C.M., will celebrate a diocesan Justice for Immigrants Mass Oct. 11. An invitation has been extended to the faithful throughout the diocese, and all who share in this cause, to gather in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, for the 12:15 p.m. Mass.
For Catholics, comprehensive immigration reform in the United States is a moral imperative that supersedes political persuasion, Bishop O’ Connell said in a pastoral statement issued for the diocesan observance of Justice for Immigrants Sunday, July 14.
“Whatever we, as Catholics, can do to foster the hopes and dreams of those who see our country as their potential home is an imperative of the Gospel and of the Catholic Social Teaching based upon it, not of our political persuasion,” he said in the statement. “Prayer is a powerful prerogative and something that all of us can do.”
The push for comprehensive immigration reform throughout the Catholic Church in the United States is drawn upon the now 10-year-old pastoral letter issued by the U.S. Catholic bishops entitled “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.” The principles enunciated in that letter were echoed in a recent pastoral statement of the Catholic bishops of New Jersey, advocating the reform of “a badly broken system in our country.”
The key principles of immigration reform called for by the Church’s leaders are: a path to citizenship for the undocumented that is achievable, is set within a reasonable timeframe and includes the maximum number of persons; a system that protects the integrity of families; a program that allows low-skilled migrant workers to enter and work in the United States legally and safely, providing them with the option to apply for permanent residency and eventual citizenship.
“Comprehensive immigration reform is not Washington’s problem,” Bishop O’ Connell said. “It is a concern for all citizens of our country as well as those who hope to be, much as it was for our ancestors who arrived here with hopes for and dreams of a better life, ‘under God, with liberty and justice for all.’”
To learn more about the Justice for Immigrants campaign, go to www.justiceforimmigrants.org. To access the NJ Catholic bishops’ letter on immigration, visit trentonmonitor.com.
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