The event will be held on Thursday, May 30, beginning simultaneously at 6 p.m. from three Chicago locations: Old St. Patrick’s, 700 West Adams Street, St. Adalbert, 1650 West 17th Street, and Notre Dame de Chicago, 1334 West Flournoy, to Holy Family Parish, 1080 West Roosevelt, Chicago, where Cardinal George will conduct a prayer service in support of immigration reform at 7:30 p.m.
Parishes throughout the Archdiocese in Cook and Lake counties requested 100,000 postcards to send to U.S. Senators and Representatives to show that Catholics and other supporters of immigrants want our elected officials to enact meaningful and compassionate immigration reform legislation. The signed postcards from parishioners throughout the Archdiocese represent requests from 129 parishes with 35 percent of these parishes located in non-immigrant communities.
The Pilgrimage, Prayer Vigil and Postcard Campaign are part of the efforts by the Together As Brothers & Sisters Campaign that is coordinated by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Immigrant Affairs and Immigration Education. The Campaign aims to bring attention to the urgency of comprehensive immigration reform as outlined by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The U.S. bishops have stated that the Catholic Church believes that the current U.S. immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform. This would include a path to citizenship for the 11-12 million undocumented in the country; a temporary worker program to allow migrant workers to enter safely and humaneﾭly; and family-based immigration reform that allows families to be reunited more quickly. The Church also teaches that root causes of migration, such as global economic disparities, need to be addressed.
Since May 2005, the Archdiocese of Chicago, its bishops, priests and religious congregations, have been a voice for immigrants through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform/Justice for Immigrants, established to educate Catholics and the general public about the need for comprehensive immigration reform and to influence legislation for a permanent and fair solution to immigration issues in this country.
For more information about immigration efforts of the Archdiocese of Chicago, visit www.archchicago.org/immigration, or contact Elena Segura, Director of the Office for Immigrant Affairs and Immigration Education at 312-307-6180 or [email protected].
