Xaverian Mission Newsletter - 2012: Jan.- Mar.

Welcoming Christ in the Migrant

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2012 - Jan.-Mar.
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Seeing Christ in the Stranger: Building a Living Church

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) designated the second week of January as National Migration Week. Welcoming Christ in the Migrant was observed in dioceses throughout the nation. “Just as on the road to Emmaus, Christ's disciples met him in the guise of a stranger, this year's theme helps remind us that Christ makes himself present to each of us in the lonesome traveler, the newcomer, and the migrant,” said Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration.

The observance of National Migration Week was begun over a quarter century ago by the US bishops to provide Catholics an opportunity to acknowledge the wide diversity of peoples in the Church and the ministries serving them.

Pope Benedict XVI expressed concern for the millions of migrants around the world, "I entrust to the Lord all those who, often forcibly, must leave their homeland, or who are stateless," the pope said at his noon blessing last Dec. 4. "While I encourage solidarity for them, I pray for all those who are doing their utmost to protect and assist these brothers and sisters in emergency situations, even if it means exposing themselves to serious hardships and dangers."

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