We are in the midst of National Migration Week, which is celebrated from Jan. 4 to Jan. 10 as the new year of 2015 dawns.
This year’s theme for the week is appropriately, “We are One Family under God.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops calls the celebration of National Migration Week an opportunity to raise awareness about the hardships faced by migrants, including children, refugees and victims of human trafficking.
The Diocese of Paterson is blessed to have a flourishing Migrant Ministry under the direction of Father Raimundo Rivera with the assistance of diocesan Catholic Charities.
The observance of National Migration Week began more than 25 years ago by the U.S. bishops to give Catholics an opportunity to take stock of the wide diversity of peoples in the Church and the ministries serving them. The week serves as both a time for prayer and action to try and ease their struggles and a time for reflection on the Church’s call to “welcome the stranger.” The 2015 National Migration Week also marks 50 years of service by USCCB Migration and Refugee Services.
“We are all created equal in God’s image,” said Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration. “There is no such thing as an illegal human being. During National Migration Week we should not only pray for our brothers and sisters who are marginalized but also advocate that protections are provided to them, for they need them most.”
This week, most especially, pray for the marginalized among us in our diocese and do what you can to help them, remembering that “we are all one family under God.”