Catholic migrant vigils across the nation call for 'One Church, One Family'

(OSV News) -- Catholics across the nation are being invited to publicly pray for migrants, with two coast-to-coast days of witness planned amid the Trump administration's continuing crackdown on unauthorized immigration.

"One Church, One Family: Catholic Public Witness for Immigrants" will take place in multiple locations on Oct. 22 and Nov. 13.

The latter date coincides with the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who became the first U.S. citizen to be declared a saint, and who in 1950 was named the universal patroness of immigrants due to her work on their behalf.

The grassroots coalition of events is being spearheaded by the Jesuits West province, based in Portland, Oregon. The province is one of the sponsors of the Kino Border Initiative, an organization based in the U.S. and Mexico that promotes border and immigration policies that affirm human dignity and binational cooperation.

The events build on an Oct. 12 binational pilgrimage led by Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, as part of a mission to stand in solidarity with migrants.

The "One Church, One Family" project's two days of prayer and witness will include vigils outside of immigration offices and detention centers, prayer services at the sites of immigration arrests, rosaries recited as individuals report for immigration court hearings, Masses and private prayer.

An array of Catholic organizations and religious orders have teamed up with the Jesuits for the events, among them the Jesuits East province, Jesuit Refugee Service USA, the Ignatian Solidarity Network, Maryknoll, Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Pax Christi USA, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services.

Several orders of women religious are also partnering with the initiative, including the Sisters of St. Joseph, U.S. Federation; the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods; the Sisters of Mercy; the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and the School Sisters of Notre Dame's Atlantic-Midwest and Central Pacific provinces.

Also participating are the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Franciscan Friars, Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The initiative's website, 1family.us, includes several resources for activity ideas, prayers and signage.

Annie Fox, a lead coordinator for the effort, explained to OSV News that "One Church, One Family is "the body of the church seeking to speak out in a way that is deeply prayerful."

"We are praying for conversions of people who are hurting and separating our families," she said.

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles -- the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation's duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

Fox said she and her team have been "inundated and shocked by the number of calls we're getting for families who need pastoral care and support as they go to what used to be a normal ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) check-in," an appointment that has now become "quite terrifying."

A woman who provides child care for Fox's daughter has received "an order to self-deport and has to leave in a month," said Fox.

"To realize the woman who's caring for my daughter is being forced to wear an ankle bracelet and check in every two weeks and is going to have to remove -- her daughter's two years away from a high school diploma," Fox said. "And she's going to have to go back to Colombia after having spent years here building a life and securing an education for her daughter."

For Fox, the vigils are a way of helping the woman "feel like people are trying to stand for her.
"It's the way that I can maybe, a little bit, care for her daughter," she said.