<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Maria Jose Fernandez Flores says she wasn\u2019t aware that the institutional Catholic Church was officially supporting Dreamers who were brought to the United States as children and are now fighting for a path to citizenship to stay in the only country they\u2019ve ever called home.<\/p>\n
At age four, her mother brought her to the U.S. from Lima, Peru. Soon after arriving, her mom married another undocumented migrant and now her three younger sisters are United States citizens – while she and her parents live with the fear of being deported and forever separated from them.<\/p>\n
Now at age 21, she\u2019s found herself in the nation\u2019s capital, alongside 500 other Catholics from around the country, to participate in the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering (CSMG), a four-day annual event that takes place every February, which serves as a lab for Catholic social teaching, followed by in-person lobbying on Capitol Hill on behalf of Catholic legislative priorities.<\/p>\n
On the second evening of this year\u2019s CSMG, which took place from Feb. 3-6, Flores said she spent the evening hanging out with new friends from the University of Dayton. As soon as they found out she was a Dreamer, they immediately stopped and asked if the group could pray for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just didn\u2019t realize the Church was really rooting for us until now,\u201d she told Crux. \u201cNormally when you go to the rallies, it\u2019s the Dreamers who are all there, so it\u2019s nice to have people on the outside that are with you too.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the March 5 deadline looms for Congress to reach a deal on immigration, Flores admits that she lives with constant fear and anxiety but says her faith in God is strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not going to abandon me no matter what, and even if the result is what I want it to be, I know that. But it\u2019s still really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can be good Catholics together\u201d
\nFor most ordinary Catholics, the work of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is either a source of confusion or it\u2019s entirely unknown to them that for 100 years the U.S. bishops have had a collective body to represent the Church\u2019s interests in the public square.<\/p>\n
Yet, the CSMG, which has taken place almost every February for nearly 30 years, serves as an open invitation to go inside the belly of the beast and join firsthand in that long-standing tradition.<\/p>\n
Organized by the USCCB\u2019s Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, along with 16 other departments and agencies, this year\u2019s gathering brought together individuals from over 100 dioceses and 45 states. The attendees are a mix of young students and seasoned social activists who have worked for Catholic-related causes for years.<\/p>\n
A walk through the exhibitor\u2019s hall will evidence the range of affiliated groups who participate in the event: A mix of climate change activists, immigration rights workers, pro-life and anti-death penalty organizations, and everything in between. Teenagers wearing \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d t-shirts, brush up against nuns in full habit wearing buttons in support of immigrants, next to folks wearing shirts from this year\u2019s March for Life. In some respects, it\u2019s a visible witness of Pope Francis\u2019s call in Laudato si\u2019 to see that \u201ceverything is connected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the USCCB, told Crux that he hoped the gathering would bring together factions within the Church that often found themselves labeled as \u201csocial justice Catholics\u201d or \u201cpro-life Catholics\u201d in a unified witness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve given your whole life and you want the death penalty ended, you\u2019ll do anything to do that, and I say that\u2019s good, just recognize that\u2019s one angle,\u201d said DiNardo. \u201cThen, you\u2019ll find other people who really fight to close abortion clinics or to give help to those with unplanned pregnancies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can be good Catholics together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During the orientation, first-time attendees were told by a representative of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) that their participation is part of \u201cthe long history of the communion of saints\u201d and in the advocacy tradition of Moses, who led God\u2019s people out of Egypt and into the promised land. Rather than becoming partisan players, attendees were encouraged to be a part of \u201cteam Catholic,\u201d and lead with their life stories, as \u201cthey matter more than facts or figures.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the CSMG was dotted with keynote addresses and masses celebrated by high-ranking Church officials, it\u2019s primarily a grassroots driven event with specific workshops focusing on the range of issues confronting Catholics today, including racism, the opioid epidemic, ecological concerns, and, of course, immigration.<\/p>\n
Although the event is education-driven, with break-out sessions and panel discussions organized by USCCB staff members and leading field experts, many of these representatives told Crux that it\u2019s equally valuable for them to spend the four days listening to the experiences of those doing advocacy and activism back at home to hear what sort of resources and support they need from the institutional Church.<\/p>\n
Missionary Discipleship in Action
\nWhile the three-day immersion in Catholic social teaching takes up the largest block of the conference, the conference\u2019s crescendo is \u201cHill Day,\u201d when activists journey up to Capitol Hill to introduce their Catholic concerns to lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Tyrone Ford, who works with Catholic Charities in St. Louis, told Crux he spoke with officials from Republican representative Ann Wagner\u2019s office and Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n
This marked Ford\u2019s first-time attending the CSMG and he said he was encouraged by colleagues to attend after being involved in community outreach following the Ferguson unrest after the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014.<\/p>\n
Ford told Crux that he was most impressed by seeing what Catholics are doing on the ground \u201clocally, nationally, and internationally,\u201d and that the CSMG reminded him \u201cthere\u2019s power in numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katherine Meinzen, 20, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who was also a first-time attendee, said \u201cit\u2019s good to be refreshed on the moral stances of the bishops,\u201d which she said heartened her own commitment to activism.<\/p>\n
Meinzen\u2019s sentiments were echoed by her fellow Hoosier state attendee, 19 year-old Timothy Durbin, who said he was impressed at just how much unity there was among the attendees, despite such diverse backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these issues we\u2019ve discussed create a polarizing environment, on church, on campus, and elsewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Durbin told Crux that he valued the efforts \u201cto create a culture of encounter among the poor and the needy, but also those whose opinions differ.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Lynne Betts of nearby Delaware said she believed this year\u2019s CSMG marked her 9th year in attendance as a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, an organization committed to ending poverty.<\/p>\n
At 59 years old, Betts said she loved the mix of ages and told Crux that this year brought together some of the most remarkable workshops she\u2019s attended to date.<\/p>\n
As for time on the Hill, she said her main purpose for being there was to show gratitude.<\/p>\n
Betts visited Democratic Senator Chris Coons\u2019 office, who just the day before introduced a bipartisan DACA bill with Senator John McCain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thanked them for doing things the way we do it in Delaware: across the aisle,\u201d Betts told Crux.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the colorful mix of participants, DiNardo told Crux that \u201cPope Francis\u2019s constant appeal to missionary discipleship has been helpful both for the young, but even for the not so young.\u201d<\/p>\n
If missionary discipleship is defined by a necessity of \u201cgoing forth from ourselves towards our brothers and sisters,\u201d as Francis writes in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, then that\u2019s certainly what resonated with 19 year-old Jacory Bernard of Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Bernard, who attended the CSMG with members of the Newman Center at Morehouse College, told Crux he \u201cgained vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA vision of what\u2019s happening in the world, and vision of the resources we have to fix things,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Bernard, who had the chance to meet with Civil Rights legend Congressman John Lewis on Tuesday, said that concluding the CSMG on Capitol Hill was important because it reminded him \u201cthe representatives are human just like us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s through us talking with them and giving them different insight and different stories that they realize the true problems we have in the world,\u201d said Bernard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve never experienced poverty, it\u2019s hard to make decisions on it. If you\u2019ve never experienced the backlash an immigrant experiences, it\u2019s hard to make decisions on it,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like this opportunity is so powerful because of the diversity within this group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article taken from cruxnow.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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