Tireless: 100 Local Events in February Propel Faith Community toward March 21st

America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/09/10 at 06:03pm

The breadth and depth of activity people of faith have taken to advocate for immigration reform in 2010 is too extensive to summarize in a blog post, much less a single word. But if we had to pick one, it would be "tireless." How else would you describe a movement that treats a month of action featuring 100 events across the country as a warm-up for bringing thousands of people to Washington, D.C. for a central presence at the March for America?

The month of February saw a blizzard of activity from faith groups across the country, much of it coordinated by a variety of groups -- from the Interfaith Immigration Coalition to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations -- under the banner "Together, not Torn: Families Can't Wait for Immigration Reform." Other events were independently organized by the USCCB's Justice for Immigrants campaign, PICO National Network and the Reform Immigration for America campaign.

Some standouts from February's 100 faith events:

In New Jersey, activists marched 10 miles from Ellis Island to a detention center in Elizabeth, N.J. to demonstrate that "Ellis Island is Closed." As organizer Kathy O'Leary told the Jersey Journal:

"Today's immigrants are no different from my great-grandparents in that they come here to work and make a better life for their families."

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, hundreds of people (according to the Kalamazoo Gazette) attended a rally at a Methodist Church to hear testimonies from immigrants from Mexico and the former East Germany.

In the Bay Area, an interfaith service at Mission Dolores Basilica featured readings from President John F. Kennedy's book A Nation of Immigrants. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bishop William Justice told the service's 500 attendees:

"As clergy, it is our role to inspire (social justice) work — to lead with prophetic voices, to encourage the weary workers … and to cry with you at the pain we see in our communities."

In Orlando, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal and Islamic clergy came together to call for "a change of heart" on immigration, as Bishop Thomas Wenski told the Orlando Sentinel. Wenski added, "hopefully, that change of heart will result in good news" for the undocumented.

But while the faith community has made its voice heard distinct from the broader movement for immigration reform, it is also an integral part of that movement. In fact, the March for America in Washington, D.C. on March 21st was originally scheduled to coincide with Ecumenical Advocacy Days, an annual faith-based conference focusing this year on immigration issues. While the current size and significance of the march is the result of collaboration from the Reform Immigration for America campaign, labor and civil rights groups, and communities across the country, advocates of faith and their message of justice and compassion are central to Sunday's events. The website ChangeTakesFaith.org is coordinating activity and bus transportation among groups as far away as California to bring thousands of people of faith to Washington for the 21st.

During the main event -- the 2pm rally on the National Mall -- Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony and Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the UMC Desert Southwest Conference will articulate the need for faithful and compassionate reform. But for faith activists, this is neither the beginning nor the end of the weekend's activity. Denominational activities on the morning of the 21st, from a Catholic Mass to a bagel brunch for Jewish marchers, will lead up to an interfaith prayer service on the Mall at 1pm, before the main rally. And on Monday the 22nd, advocates who have come to DC for the March will team up with Ecumenical Advocacy Days attendees to visit the Hill and urge legislators to hear the call for reform echoing from the day before.

It may sound exhausting, but for those fueled by faith (and bagels) it's just another weekend in the march toward reform.