The theme of the 26th annual observance of National Migration Week for 2007 is Welcoming Christ in the Migrant, which is at once an invitation and a challenge to provide welcome for the migrants, immigrants, refugees, human trafficking victims, and other people on the move who come to our land seeking justice and peace. 
When we reach out to aid and comfort the newcomers to our land we are indeed offering ourselves and our gifts in service to the Lord. This is not only our Christian duty but a privilege, knowing that we too have been adopted into God's family. May you be richly blessed by your faithful acts of hospitality in Christ's name.

Most Reverend Gerald R. Barnes 

 

Welcoming Christ in the Migrant

e live in an age when strangers in our midst have become a source of suspicion and fear. Jesus' command for us to welcome these strangers as we would welcome Him is at odds with much of the prevailing sentiment expressed today. Debates over whether and how to address the migration phenomenon fills not only the halls of government but even community and parish halls. The historically generous American spirit has been replaced in some quarters with calls for isolation and restriction.

In this fearful environment, how is a Christian to respond?
Christ's call is unchanging: we are obliged to welcome the stranger with love, knowing that "perfect love casts out all fear". (1Jn 4:18) Through the perfect love of Christ's incarnation, death and resurrection, Jesus has conquered fear for all of his children. To be welcomed into this freedom ourselves we must be willing to welcome others.

Catholic Social Teaching on Migration

Drawn from our rich scriptural tradition, Catholic theology has always promoted human rights rooted in natural law and God's revelation. After the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor), popes and bishops in later documents have synthesized the Catholic theological tradition to articulate three basic principles of migration:

1. People have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families.
2. A country has the right to regulate its borders and to control migration.
3. A country must regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

Although the first two of these principles may seem to contradict each other, they are put in context by the third. Catholic social teaching emphasizes the absolute equality of all people and the commitment to the common good. 

May the World Day of Migrants and Refugees become a useful occasion to build awareness, in the ecclesial community and public opinion, regarding the needs and problems, as well as the positive potentialities of migrant families. My thoughts go in a special way to those who are directly involved in the vast phenomenon of migration, and to those who expend their pastoral energy in the service of human mobility.
Pope Benedict XVI
Message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees 
Jan. 14, 2007

People of faith must seek a way of balancing their valid security needs with meeting the basic human needs of others in the confidence of God's love of and care for all of His people. It is in achieving this balance that we can embrace each of the principles of Catholic social teaching on migration.

When war, natural disaster, famine, or crushing poverty causes mass migration, the lands that receive these displaced people may feel threatened, with the citizens of the host nation fearing that newcomers will take scarce jobs, land, and resources. While recognizing these fears, the Church is clear in teaching that people have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families. As the Gospels make clear, it is God's will that the abundance of the earth be shared in love by all of His people.

Reflecting on this spiritual imperative, Pope Benedict observed in his 2006 World Refugee Day message, "... those who must leave everything, at times even their families, to escape from grave difficulties and dangers... [should find] the Church as a homeland where no one is a stranger."
Ordinarily, people migrate because they are desperate and the opportunity for a safe and secure life does not exist in their own land. Migrants and refugees endure many hardships and most would prefer to return home under more favorable circumstances. As American Catholics, we should work to alleviate the conditions that force people to leave their own land and protect their rights while they reside among us. 

The more than eleven million undocumented immigrants who currently reside within the United States are of special concern to the Church and society in general. Undocumented persons are particularly vulnerable to exploitation by employers, and they are not able to seek redress because of the fear of discovery and deportation. The Church has historically taught that the lack of proper legal status should never deprive persons of their God-given rights to be treated fairly and humanely in keeping with international laws. The presence of large numbers of people living in the shadows of society without recourse to fundamental legal protections is a grave injustice that the Church seeks to change.

The Global Refugee Situation

War, persecution, famine, environmental disasters, and other factors continue to force people to flee their homes for a chance at survival. In 2005, over a million new refugees were added to those already in exile, bringing the total number of refugees to over 12 million. Of these, over 8 million of them have been warehoused in the desperate conditions of refugee camps for over five years.

Although developed countries such as the United States contribute much of the funding to assist refugees, the world's poorest countries host the vast majority of the world's refugees. Nations with per capita incomes of less than $2,000 host more than two-thirds of all refugees. Nations with per capita incomes over $10,000 hosted only four percent of the world's refugees. Poor nations, many times unable to provide basic services for even their own citizens, often end up maintaining refugees in deplorable conditions. Refugee camps are typically without adequate housing, electricity, access to clean water, medical care, and even food. Those who live within them have no rights and are not allowed to travel or seek work. 

As has been the case in previous times of war, U.S. immigration policies following the 2001 terrorist attacks have undergone close and critical scrutiny, with growing public pressure to become more restrictive. In the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks, for example, refugee admissions to the U.S. dropped from more than 70,000 per year to less than 30,000 per year in 2002 and 2003. Today, refugee admissions total about 50,000 per year, but the program is once again being jeopardized by anti-terrorism laws that prevent even bona fide refugees from entering the country.

Migration and Refugee Service