"Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice"

Thanks to Sister Anna Nguyen for sharing the following homily (by Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, FL) for National Migration Week

“Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice” is the theme of the New Year’s National Migration Week celebrated Jan. 4-10. The Church in the United States for more than a quarter-century has associated this special observance that calls attention to the dramatic realities of human mobility with the liturgical observance of the Solemnity of the Epiphany. The Magi’s visit to the Christ Child underscores the fact that Jesus came as Savior to all the nations: The Church he was to found to continue his mission of salvation is necessarily “Catholic,” i.e., universal – embracing men and women of all nations and all cultures.

And, we can imagine that perhaps the gifts the Wise Men brought Jesus stood the Holy Family in good stead as they hurriedly fled into Egypt. Today modern day Herods still force people to flee from their homelands and seek safe refuge elsewhere. Half the Christian population of Iraq has taken refuge in neighboring countries – more than 600,000 people. Of course, here in Orlando the plight of refugees is not unknown to us. Our San Pedro facilities hosted unaccompanied Cuban minors in the early 60’s and last year our own Catholic Charities of Central Florida has assisted. 323 refugees – from places as near as Cuban and Haiti and as far away as Burma and Iraq - to resettled here in Central Florida helping them towards self sufficiency with housing, orientation, employment assistance. Some of these refugees are represented here today at Mass – as well as others who immigrated here from other lands to make America their home.

The United States whose national motto is “e pluribus Unum” (“out of many, one”), is proudly a nation of immigrants. In America, our Catholic Church, from its small beginnings with the establishment of the first diocese in Baltimore a little more than two centuries ago, has grown tremendously because of the influx of successive waves of immigrants. This diversity – far from dividing us – has enriched us tremendously – both as a nation as well as a community of believers. Despite a constant, if today somewhat muted, Anti-Catholic prejudice that has always been part of the American experience, the Catholic Church in America – through its vast network of social services and schools – has helped immigrants integrate successfully into American society. Our schools not only taught the catechism, they also taught patriotism. Our forefathers came here from countries torn apart by war and or poverty – they came seeking “hope” and “justice”; and, for the most part, the “American dream” did not defraud them.

Of course, in the last 40 years, the numbers of new immigrants to America has equaled, if not surpassed, those of the “Great Wave” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Human mobility continues to increase in this new era of globalization – and while war and poverty continue to displace people, work or the promise of work is a major factor that leads people to migrate from one country to another. In the United States and other countries, where the governments were slow to respond to the market’s need for more labor, “illegal” migration grew to fill the need.

As we enter 2009, “Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice” – the theme of this year’s Migration Week observances - reminds us of the unfinished business of the last two congresses and the last administration: comprehensive immigration reform. A Zogby poll of Catholics (conducted in October) found wide support for the main elements of comprehensive immigration reform, such as a system for legalizing the status of people in the United States illegally if they learn English and “register” with the government. Between 60 percent and 64 percent of the polled Catholics also oppose building a wall along the border.

Pope Benedict XVI in his annual message for World Migration Day (observed in Rome Jan. 18) evokes the memory of St. Paul whose 2,000 birthday is being observed this year. St. Paul, the Pope writes, was a “migrant” by vocation and understood the hardships of migrants and the importance of taking the Gospel to the most diverse populations. Pope Benedict urges us to give priority to the variegated universe of migrants. “How can we fail to meet the needs of those who are de facto the weakest and most defenseless, marked by precariousness and insecurity, marginalized and often excluded by society?”

Today’s feast of the Three Kings reminds us that Jesus came not for just one nation, one race, one people. He came as savior for all. Today Jesus is revealed to the nations in those Magi who came to offer him gifts and adore him. As a Catholic Church – a universal Church in which no man or women is a stranger but rather a brother or sister in Christ, may we welcome the newcomer in our midst – recognizing that they too bring gifts. Our Church – and our society – is enriched by the diversity of these gifts. If God is the Father of all, then all peoples should be welcomed into God’s house which is the Church.

St. Paul, Pope Benedict reminds us, became “all things to all men so that he might by all means save some” (1 Cor 9: 22). That same apostolic zeal should lead us to show solidarity with the migrant. The Church’s celebration of National Migration Week should help us all to “live brotherly love to the full without making any kind of distinction and without discrimination in the conviction that anyone who needs us and whom we can help is our neighbor.” Whether we are native-born or immigrant, this is the path we must walk in – “Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice.”