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| J.D. Long-Garía/CATHOLIC SUN Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas addresses the Diocese Without Borders meeting Sept. 20. |
'Pull' remains steady; 'push' increases Church border efforts confront violence
By J.D. Long-García | The Catholic Sun NOGALES, Mexico —
Preaching about the Prince of Peace is tough in areas ravaged by drug violence.
Church aid workers from the Phoenix, Tucson and Hermosillo dioceses, who together with Catholic Relief Services form the Diocese Without Borders initiative, discussed violence and peacemaking efforts Sept. 19-21 at a cross-border conference.
“You don’t build peace in a vacuum,” said Lynnette Asselin, who heads CRS efforts in Mexico City. The relief agency has been analyzing research on tensions along the border, with particular attention to workers.
CRS has also followed the Mexican bishops’ lead in peace building efforts. The bishops’ 2010 pastoral letter, “So that in Christ, Our Peace, Mexico May Have a Decent Life,” offered a Catholic response to violence in the country. “The bishops see the reality not as experts, but as pastors,” said Hermosillo Archbishop José Ulises Macias Salcedo, who joined the group at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. “Justice and charity have peace as their fruit.”
In the letter, the Mexican bishops suggested the promotion of integral human development, working with local governments to address poverty, defense of human rights and facilitating peace between warring parties.
Spiritan Father William R. Headley, dean of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at University of San Diego, said the Church has a lot to offer in the peace-building effort. “When people are in a dire situation, they don’t know how to express their feelings,” he explained. “Rituals give them a way.”
The Church, Fr. Headley said, offers the sacraments. And with priests throughout Mexico, the Church can help those involved see through a sacramental mentality. Catholics from the United States can also help.
“We want to stand in solidarity with those who face violence,” said Joanne Welter, director of the Office of Human Life and Dignity for the Tucson Diocese. “People need to know we’re one Church and one America.”
Welter said she sees fewer groups traveling to Mexico on mission trips and for relief efforts.
“Violence impacts how we do outreach and who we send,” said Lisa Laliberte, director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development for the Phoenix Diocese. She’s also seeing fewer groups travel south.
The cartels are making it harder to serve those most in need.
“Before, there was a clear distinction between migrants and those involved with drugs,” said Ignacio Rodriguez, associate director of Ethnic Ministries for the Phoenix Diocese.
That’s changed. Migrants, crossing illegally in search of work, often serve as “mules,” collaborating in drug smuggling in exchange for safe passage.
Still, the “American dream” dangles like a carrot before immigrants seeking a better life here. Rodriguez said some cross believing New York is two hours from Nogales.
“Even though the economy is bad, where they live is far worse,” he said.
Missionary Sister of the Eucharist Maria Engracia Robles, who runs a hostel for deported women and children in Nogales, isn’t fazed by the violence. She said the violence usually involves someone connected to crime.
You just want to be away from it, so don’t go out at night and avoid certain restaurants on Sundays. She’s been seeing fewer deported migrants over the summer months. Rather than a weak U.S. economy, she attributes the lower numbers to the U.S. program that flies immigrants caught on the border to Mexico City. The program ended Sept. 28.
Sr. Engracia said she’s been seeing more deportees that have been living in the United States for more than 20 years.
“They’ve already been inculturated,” she said. “They don’t know what it means to be Mexican anymore.”
Working with mothers and children, Sr. Engracia is particularly concerned with separation of families. Other Church workers who gathered for the conference were as well.
“There are more forces that divide than unite us,” said Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, chairman of CRS’ board of directors. “But as people of faith, we believe this can change.”
He exhorted the group to continue to “find ways to reach across walls and find unity.”
Talk of immigration reform took a back seat at the conference, but Bishop Kicanas said the effort “can’t let up.” Business leaders, he said, can be the agents of change.
“The bishops are united on this issue,” he said. “Regretfully, our people in the United States are not understanding of the Church teaching on the dignity of the migrant.”
Bishop Kicanas, joined by a dozen priests and more than 40 conference participants, celebrated the Sept. 20 Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. He told parishioners they were there to pray for immigrants.
“We remember that our Lord is always responding to the needs of the community,” Bishop Kicanas said. “We too have the duty to respond.”
Link to page: http://www.catholicsun.org/2011/october/17/dioceses-without-borders.html
