A number of Marianist-connected people have indicated interest in getting timely information about immigration issues. The Immigration team has created an e-news publication which provides monthly inspiration, education and opportunities for action to its readers. Sign up for the Immigration Update monthly newsletter below!
The Immigrant Justice Team, in partnership with the North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS), has produced five immigration-themed community meeting kits. These kits include all you need for a community or small group meeting on each topic. The topics of the kits include:
· The Call to Be Advocates for Immigrant Justice
· Catholic Teaching on Immigration
· Why Do People Migrate?
· A Question of White Supremacy?
· An Evening at the Movies (in this case TED Talks)
You can click on and download the kits here, or access them on the NACMS website.
The Marianist Family adopted a position statement in 2010 that indicated its support for a comprehensive rather than piecemeal approach to dealing with the United State's broken immigration system. While the current political climate makes passage of such legislation very difficult, the MSJC Immigrant Justice Issue Team remains committed to this approach as the most effective way of addressing the injustices that immigrants face. Please find the entire document here, Marianist Statement on Immigrant Reform, or in the resources section below.
Each year on Ash Wednesday, team members join First Friends of New Jersey and Pax Christi at a vigil outside the immigrant detention facility in Elizabeth, NJ.
In the past, the team has sponsored a trip to the Mexican border and is currently promoting trips that other groups are sponsoring. The team has also sponsored a “Come to the Table” multicultural dinner that included immigrants and refugees from many different countries.
The MSJC Immigrant Justice Team partnered with University of Dayton Campus Ministry to facilitate a discussion in the Dialogue Zone in 2019. The discussion was prompted by passing out descriptions of three different positions on what action should be taken regarding the immigration issue in the United States. These issue guides came from the Kettering Foundation. Small groups of students discussed their views and then they participated in a large group discussion. The Immigrant Justice Issue Team is hoping to have more dialogues like this one in the future. Please let us know if your community, organization, or school would like to learn more about having an immigration dialogue event.