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US Catholic Church Prepares to Observe National Migration Week
The United States Catholic Church will observe National Migration Week from January 8-14, 2012. The annual observance serves as a reminder that the Catholic community is an immigrant Church. In 2000, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops drafted a pastoral statement titled Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity. In it, the Bishops state, “The new immigrants call most of us back to our ancestral heritage as descendants of immigrants and to our baptismal heritage as members of the body of Christ.”
In a letter to Diocesan faithful marking National Migration Week, the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge notes that, “Today, Our Lord Jesus is present to us in the traveler, those who are newcomers among us and those who are migrants. As Christians we are reminded of our call to extend every possible gesture of welcome and hospitality to those who find themselves far away from home and in vulnerable situations.”
Read Bishop Burbidge’s National Migration Week letter: English (PDF) | Spanish (PDF)