Posts Tagged ‘Immigration and Migration’
Nancy E. Thoerig of Mount Savage, Md., a town about 150 miles west of Baltimore, wrote a letter to the editor of her local paper in response to an opinion piece it ran on immigration. She felt the article did not clearly represent Catholic teaching on immigration. So she did her homework, consulted the website of the Maryland Catholic Conference, and wrote a great letter in response. We’d like to share it with you:
To the Editor:
Cumberland Times-News
Eileen Steele’s commentary (“Some things need discussing,” Aug. 26 Times-News), in which she says “the Catholic Church has a wrong-headed approach to the illegals,” though she gives no elucidation as to what offends her, caused me, a cradle Catholic, to wonder: What is the crux of the church’s teaching on immigration; and how does it fit into the political debate?
Probably the best source I found to answer questions is the Maryland Catholic Conference (www.mdcathcon.org), informed by bishops O’Brien, Wuerl and Saltarelli of Baltimore, Washington and Wilmington, respectively, to advocate for public policy and pastoral interests in Annapolis and on Capitol Hill. The MCC, the site summarizes, aims to keep before our legislators “moral and religious dimensions of secular issues” and “values of the Gospel as norms for social and political life” and to promote “peace and justice.”
“Undocumented immigrants are persons with dignity,” the bishops state in their document titled “Where All Find a Home;” and they call us to learn about the immigration system, reasons people migrate, and needs of immigrants and their families: “Our American ideals call us to participate in the public debate; our Catholic faith urges us to do so with charity.”
Read the rest of Nancy Thoerig’s letter.
Posted
August 29th, 2008 in
Immigration and Migration, migration by:
jrivera |
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Laura Sheahen, a regional information officer with CRS, is on the ground in Georgia and reports on the plight of those displaced by the fighting. She can be reached at lsheahen@eme.crs.org or 011.20.16.533.1643.
The young people—most of them around 18 years old—have worked from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for six days straight. It’s tedious work—unloading trays of bread loaves, sorting them, roaming from floor to floor of a tall, run-down, abandoned hospital building to pass out food to 1,800 frightened, hungry people—and then moving on to the next shelter. Or the teenagers are registering families who fled their homes, or packing hundreds of bags full of soap, toothpaste, toilet paper and other hygiene supplies.
Caritas Georgia volunteers pack soap, toothpaste, toilet paper and other hygiene items funded by Catholic Relief Services. Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS
It probably wasn’t the summer fun most teens anticipate. But Caritas volunteers in the war-torn nation of Georgia keep going.
And the staff, which include bakers, cooks, drivers, psychologists, social workers and a doctor, are working around the clock to reach as many displaced people as possible. Estimates now say there are 128,000 people who left their homes are are scattered throughout Georgia, many going to the capital city of Tbilisi. For the tens of thousands without relatives to stay with, government-appointed shelters in old buildings are the only option. “The government left us here, and hasn’t brought us any food. But Caritas came,” said one person at the Isani shelter, a former military hospital without electricity or running water; it’s now home to 1,500 people who left their homes to escape bombings over a week ago.
In Tbilisi and the western city of Kutaisi, Caritas is now feeding 2,660 people a day, up from about 500 the day after the worst violence subsided.
The apostolic nuncio for the region, Monsignor Claudio Gugerotti, is at the Isani shelter too, meeting with the residents and asking them what they need. They’re grateful for the food, but eating bakery items (like bread rolls with bean or kielbasa paste) for a week can be hard on the stomach. Getting the displaced people a greater variety of food is key. Wiring the large building for electricity is happening slowly, floor by floor, but the people still have no water. One man washes his legs with a hose available outside the building.
The nuncio describes how he managed to enter the bombed city of Gori on Monday. So did Father Witold, president of Caritas Georgia, who brought Caritas bread to people unable to flee the shelling 10 days ago. Many people who fled Gori are worried that their homes are being looted by roving gangs, and they’re probably right. “They tried to steal a local priest’s car when we were in Gori,” says the nuncio.
Back in Tbilisi, Caritas volunteers stir enormous pots of macaroni and cheese, load mattresses into vans, and assemble hygiene packs that are funded by Catholic Relief Services. The teenagers put detergent, towels, sheets, soap and more into bags for each shelter resident. The sharp corners of the toothpaste tube cut the plastic bags, so they find an ingenious solution: put the toothpaste inside a toilet paper roll.
While they work, they talk about what they’ve seen in the shelters. Many of the shelter residents are from the country and ran from farms when the bombs started. One woman was milking a cow, and ran with the milk still on her hands. Many displaced people need shoes, underwear and other clothes. “They’re in shock,” says a 23-year-old volunteer named Irma. “Some fled barefoot, in their pajamas.”
The children are frightened, says another volunteer. “They’re afraid to go outside,” says 17-year-old volunteer Albina. “If they hear a loud sound, they’re scared.” Volunteers have gathered not just essential items, but also toys for the shelters. And there is some happy news: a shelter resident just recently went into labor, and was brought to a Tbilisi hospital to give birth. Mother and baby are doing well.
Georgi, 17, loves fishing. Ordinarily in the summer he might be in Georgia’s picturesque mountains, standing near a stream. Instead, he is moving heavy supplies in the hot sun from a cargo container. A few days ago it was mattresses and pillows. Today it’s boxes of shampoo bottles and soap. Caritas has worked here for years, so it knows all the warehouses, how to work out shipping details, and how to get the best discounts on large supplies of humanitarian aid.
The aid workers are weary but aren’t stopping. Rapidly sorting bread loaves, a 21-year-old volunteer named Timuri says the reason is simple. “These are our people.”
Posted
August 21st, 2008 in
Emergency Response, Georgia, Immigration and Migration by:
jrivera |
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Catholic Relief Services is participating as a partner this week in the 2008 National Migration Conference , which concludes today in Washington. The conference is co-sponsored by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS). More than 850 people from across the country (and beyond) attended the event, which explored the national debate on immigration and the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted
July 31st, 2008 in
Immigration and Migration, migration by:
jrivera |
1 Comment »
This Friday, June 20th, is World Refugee Day. This year, the theme is “protection.”
But who is a refugee? And why do they need protection? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted
June 17th, 2008 in
Emergency Response, Immigration and Migration, refugees by:
jrivera |
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Iraqi refugees in Lebanon may feel they’ve exchanged one war-torn country for another. Thousands of Iraqis who fled their homeland now live in poverty in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut, where political tensions reached the boiling point last week.
Catholic Relief Services’ partner in Beirut, the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center (CLMC), continues to help Iraqi refugees and other vulnerable people in Lebanon, such as Sri Lankan migrant workers. CLMC is the only Iraqi service-providing NGO to remain operational during this crisis.
Iraqis are feeling the economic effects of the fighting, although the areas where they live were not affected directly by fighting. Two hundred families were in line as of Monday morning to request food coupons and items like diapers. The Migrant Center has four facilities on standby if temporary shelter is necessary, with approximately 600 beds total.
“Iraqi refugees are showing signs of post-traumatic stress,” says Najla Chahda, director of the CLMC. “Some Iraqi refugees have expressed extreme fear, having already survived violence in Iraq and, in some cases, the July 2006 war in Lebanon. Their most urgent need now is food and non-food items, whose prices have risen dramatically since the fighting began on Wednesday.”
Posted
May 13th, 2008 in
Immigration and Migration, Middle East by:
jrivera |
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Two Iraqi refugee boys outside a social services center in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo by David Snyder/CRS
Representatives from Catholic Relief Services are participating today in a forum at the National Press Club in Washington that is highlighting the plight of the 2 milliion Iraqis who have been displaced by the war. CRS is co-sponsor of the event, Villanova Law Schools Ryan Forum on Law and Public Policy.
Many Iraqi refugees have fled to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, where they live as “illegal immigrants” and are unable to get jobs, schooling for their children or even basic medical care for their families. As they try to start new lives, they are forbidden to work in many cases, and shut out from services that citizens receive. These refugees wait out the days — hoping against hope that they’ll get visas to third countries.
Catholic Relief Services is working through our partners in the Middle East, like Caritas Lebanon, to provide food, medical care and help with rent to thousands of refugees. Mark Schnellbacher, our CRS Regional Director for the Middle East, and Najla Chadra of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center, participated in today’s panel.
CRS is also working to bring this issue to greater visibility here in the United States, particularly among American Catholics. Our CRS Advocacy staff has kept our grassroots legislative network informed on this issue and urged them to support appropriate legislation addressing the crisis. Earlier this year, CRS sponsored a delegation of eight women religious to Syria and Lebanon, where they saw first-hand the conditions in which these Iraqi refugees live and the challenges they face. They returned to the U.S. and mobilized to raise awareness of Iraqi refugees’ suffering, speaking in their congregations, universities and the media, as well as briefing members of Congress. And after speaking here today, Najla is scheduled to speak about the situation for Iraqis in Lebanon to several more groups in the Northeast.
Posted
April 4th, 2008 in
Immigration and Migration, Iraq, Lebanon, Middle East, refugees by:
jrivera |
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You’d think that a woman with a loving husband, newborn baby and a master’s degree in physics would be set for life — or at least not hiding out in a dank basement room bare of anything but two thin mattresses on the floor.
A few years ago, Rana [name changed] had a successful career in Iraq. Today, she fears for her life. One of an estimated 50,000 Iraqi refugees in Lebanon, Rana does not leave the tiny apartment in Beirut where she, her husband and her 10-week-old daughter wait out the time until another country accepts them as immigrants.
A young Iraqi refugee in Lebanon holds her baby daughter, whose name in Arabic means “Flower.” A Muslim, the mother ordinarily veils only her hair. Here, she has veiled her face for fear of being identified and deported. Photo by CRS Staff
A softspoken 30-year-old new mother, Rana explains that her father was murdered for his political beliefs. As his daughter, she herself was later threatened directly. She fled to Beirut to join her husband, who was in Lebanon already.
Lebanon proved not to be the asylum she hoped for. Having moved into one apartment, Rana heard rumors that her father’s enemies knew her whereabouts. She and her small family moved to another apartment, which the talented and well-educated Rana does not leave. “I am afraid all the time,” she says.
Stories like Rana’s are painfully familiar to the staff of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center, one of the few charities in Beirut reaching out to those fleeing Iraq’s violence and chaos. Funded by Catholic Relief Services and other donors, the migrant center helps the refugees with rent payments, medicine and household needs like mattresses.
The vast majority of Iraqi immigrants live illegally in Lebanon, unable to receive work permits or access public schools and health services. Many put their names on a long U.N. waiting list, hoping against hope that countries like Canada will take them in. Forbidden to work and afraid to go out often for fear of arrest, they sit in near-empty apartments and watch the months drag by.
This week, a group of U.S. nuns are visiting programs for Iraqi refugees in Lebanon. Hosted by CRS, the sisters have made home visits, seen shelters and met with women religious working in and around Beirut.
They are sharply aware of Lebanon’s limitations in dealing with the flood of refugees. Just a few days ago, a car bomb meant for a U.S. embassy vehicle killed several people on the streets of Beirut (everyone in the CRS delegation is safe). Lebanon has been in political turmoil for the past year and without a president since the end of November 2007, the country’s government has more problems than it can handle.
Private groups like the Caritas center are trying to bridge the gap, with case workers putting in long hours and struggling to find more resources. “There are just so many” Iraqis needing help, says one social worker.
“They are not refugees,” says a Lebanon-based Sister of the Good Shepherd that the delegation visited. “They are our brothers and sisters, because the world belongs to all of us.”
Posted
January 18th, 2008 in
Emergency Response, Immigration and Migration, Middle East by:
jrivera |
1 Comment »
The book won’t hit the shelves until September, but a website is already up and running. Solidarity Will Transform the World: Stories of Hope from Catholic Relief Services is a collection of testimonies by the people served by CRS. It was written by Jeffry Korgen, the director of social ministries for the National Pastoral Life Center in New York.
The stories in Solidarity Will Transform the World highlight the lives of people in the developing world and the fight against poverty and injustice. Through these accounts, Korgen explores issues like immigration, HIV and AIDS, and peacebuilding.
Solidarity Will Transform the World will take you on a journey to visit the lives of people in Mexico, Zambia, India, Rwanda, and Nicaragua. Read about people in Mexico who are making a better living through Fair Trade coffee and microfinance programs, or about Zambians who through the miracle of antiretroviral drugs have been given a chance at living with HIV and AIDS and who now fight for the lives of their fellow countrymen.
Visit http://storiesofhope.crs.org/, the official website for the book, to read excerpts from all five chapters. The site also contains multimedia about CRS projects around the world — and will soon feature lesson plans and study guides for use of the book in classrooms.
Posted
July 25th, 2007 in
HIV and AIDS, Immigration and Migration, microfinance by:
jrivera |
1 Comment »
An EnComún microcredit group conducts its bi-weekly meeting.
Microfinance has received a lot of attention lately, especially after the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Grameen Bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus.
Maura Armenta has worked as a hair-stylist for many years. With her loan she was able to open her own hair salon in her home.
CRS has been involved in microfinance since 1988, helping to empower poor people, especially women, by providing access to financial services – ranging from credit and savings to insurance.
Several years ago, we helped to establish a micro-lending project in Nogales, Mexico with our partner, Border Links. That pilot has blossomed into an independent non-profit, EnComún de la Frontera, that operates in the border communities of Nogales and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. It lends between $100 and $600 to entrepreneurs who want to start or expand small businesses. Participants organize themselves into groups of 10 to 15 people, and members of the group are responsible to each other for paying back their loan.
The Arizona Daily Star profiled EnComún earlier this week: Micro-lending effort in Mexico helps poor families stay home.
Posted
June 20th, 2007 in
Immigration and Migration by:
jrivera |
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