Having a faith conversation with old and new friends is as easy as setting the table.
FAITH FEEDS GUIDE IMMIGRATION, PT. II
CONTENTS
Introduction to FAITH FEEDS 3
FAQ 4
Ready to Get Started 5
Conversation Starters 6
“Undocumented Witness” by Nicole Bernal Ruiz 7
• Conversation Starter 8
“Doing Mercy” by Rev. Joseph Corpora 9
• Conversation Starter 11
Gathering Prayer 12
The FAITH FEEDS program is designed for individuals who are hungry for opportunities to talk about their faith with others who share it. Participants gather over coffee or a potluck lunch or dinner, and a host facilitates conversation using the C21 Center’s biannual magazine, C21 Resources.
The FAITH FEEDS GUIDE offers easy, step-by-step instructions for planning, as well as materials to guide the conversation. It’s as simple as deciding to host the gathering wherever your community is found and spreading the word.
All selected articles have been taken from the Spring 2016 issue of C21 Resources. The cover of today’s Faith Feeds is a photo The cover of today’s Faith Feeds is a photo of “Angels Unawares” by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz. The photo is courtesy of Paolo Galosi at Catholic News Service.
The C21 Center Presents
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who should host a FAITH FEEDS?
Anyone who has a heart for facilitating conversations about faith is perfect to host a FAITH FEEDS.
Where do I host a FAITH FEEDS?
You can host a FAITH FEEDS in-person or virtually through video conference software. FAITH FEEDS conversations are meant for small groups of 10-12 people.
What is the host’s commitment?
The host is responsible for coordinating meeting times, sending out materials and video conference links, and facilitating conversation during the FAITH FEEDS.
What is the guest’s commitment?
Guests are asked to read the articles that will be discussed and be open to faith-filled conversation.
Still have more questions?
No problem! Email karen.kiefer@bc.edu and we’ll help you get set up.
READY TO GET STARTED?
STEP ONE
Decide to host a FAITH FEEDS. Coordinate a date, time, location, and guest list. An hour is enough time to allocate for the virtual or in-person gathering.
STEP TWO
Interested participants are asked to RSVP directly to you, the host. Once you have your list of attendees, confirm with everyone via email. That would be the appropriate time to ask in-person guests to commit to bringing a potluck dish or drink to the gathering. For virtual FAITH FEEDS, send out your video conference link.
STEP THREE
Review the selected articles from your FAITH FEEDS Guide and the questions that will serve as a starter for your FAITH FEEDS discussion. Hosts should send their guests a link to the guide, which can be found on bc.edu/FAITHFEEDS.
STEP FOUR
Send out a confirmation email a week before the FAITH FEEDS gathering. Hosts should arrive early for in-person or virtual set up. Begin with the Gathering Prayer found on the last page of this guide. Hosts can open the discussion by using the suggested questions. The conversation should grow organically from there. Enjoy this gathering of new friends, knowing the Lord is with YOU!
STEP FIVE
Make plans for another FAITH FEEDS. We would love to hear about your FAITH FEEDS experience. You can find contact information on the last page of this guide.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
Here are three articles to guide your FAITH FEEDS conversation. We suggest that you select two that will work best for your group, and if time permits, add in a third. In addition to the original article, you will find a relevant quotation, summary, and suggested questions for discussion. We offer these as tools for your use, but feel free to go wherever the Holy Spirit leads. Conversations should respect and ensure confidentiality between participants.
This guide’s theme is: Immigration
UNDOCUMENTED WITNESS
by Nicole Bernal Ruiz
Between Saturdays, she does laundry and cleaning for a wealthy family whose head of household is a university administrator. She has been helping to raise their daughters since the youngest was but an infant. Maria left behind her own infant daughter in the care of her parents and sisters two decades ago. She had no choice but to come north to feed the four hungry mouths depending on her at home on the family ranch. Although she has endured humiliation and suffering, she rarely speaks of it; nor does she mention her journey in the desert.
But now her employers are through with her. They know each other well, like family, and find each other’s habits annoying. They resent the decent wages they must pay her. Her hours are cut, then her days. Now the aging woman is back to barely getting by. There are no promotions in this line of work, no seniority, and no pensions to be had. Only tired bones and a spirit weary with effort remain after so much toil.
But her daughters are raised now, and they are mothers themselves. Each has a U.S.-born child. Their familiy immigration status is mixed. Under one roof live Maria’s mother (a permanent resident), an undocumented daughter, a U.S. citizen grandson, her youngest daughter (a so-called dreamer with deferred action), a U.S. citizen granddaughter, and Maria (still undocumented and “waiting in line” for her visa to become available). If it does become available (which is unlikely at the current rate), she still will be unable to regularize her legal situation unless she can prove to the government that her absence would cause “extreme hardship” to her legal family members. Although her absence would cause them extreme hardship, their circumstances would not qualify as such in the eyes of USCIS, and she would likely be barred from the country for at least 10 years.
So she continues to toil, weekday after weekday, trying to keep a low profile, with no hope for legalization under current law. But on Saturdays she teaches children about the gratuitous outpouring of God’s self-giving love made flesh first in the Incarnation, then in the Crucifixion, and now in the Eucharist. And on Sundays she shares the Bread of Life with others exiled, like her, to a lifetime of struggle.
Nicole Bernal Ruiz is the program director and accredited immigration legal representative of the Hispanic Affairs Project, HAP. For over five years, she has collaborated with local leaders to work on issues affecting immigrant families.
Reprinted with permission under “fair use” under U.S. copyright law.
UNDOCUMENTED WITNESS
“No sojourner had to lodge in the street, For I have opened my doors to the stranger.” — Job 31:32
Summary
Nicole Bernal Ruiz tells the story of Maria, an undocumented woman who has left her life in Mexico in order to provide for her children. After working for an affluent family for years, even having helped raise their infant daughter, Maria is fired. Her financial security is jeopardized, as is her standing in the US. She must try to keep a low profile in order to avoid civil authorities. Nonetheless, every Sunday she shares the joy of the Gospel with little ones.
Questions for Conversation
• How should Christians live out the Gospel when countless of their spiritual brothers and sisters face situations like Maria’s?
• How can Holy Scripture guide our pursuit of justice for immigrants, whether in politics or in our individual lives?
• How would Jesus Christ respond to Maria’s suffering?
• How can we uniquely see God’s image and likeness in people like Maria?
Doing Mercy
by Rev. Joseph Corpora, CSC
Each day ICE brings 8 to 10 refugees to Sister Norma’s Humanitarian Respite Center. On Tuesday I met a woman from Honduras. She was pregnant. We talked for a little bit and I asked her how things went when she crossed the border. She said that things went well. I asked her, “Did they let you cross because you’re pregnant?” She said, “No, I crossed because of the grace and goodness of God.” She didn’t know that I am a priest. So she did not say this to impress me. Rather, the words just flowed from her heart. The poor can teach us so much about true dependence on God, not just saying it, but knowing it from the inside out.
I also met a family of four from Honduras — dad and mom and two sons. The six year old was born with an illness. He is always in a lying down position. He has never been able to sit up or stand up. He is fed with a stomach pump of some sort. He has no control of his bodily functions. He is completely dependent upon his parents for everything. He cannot speak. The five year old son is completely and totally a five year old boy.
I talked with them for almost an hour. I wanted to learn about them and from them. When the six year old son was born, the hospital told the parents that the boy would not live long and there was nothing that they could do for him. And they didn’t do anything. The parents devoted themselves completely to their son. Now six years later, they decide to try to come to the United States where they might be able to get medical care for their son. Their love for him is immense. And though he has never spoken a word, I loved watching the five year old communicate with his six year old brother.
Since the boy has never been able to stand up and is held and carried everywhere, I kept wondering how they were able to get to the US / Mexico border from Honduras. So I asked them. They pushed their son in a stroller from Honduras to the border. I can’t even begin to imagine what that would have been like. I just can’t. I was already crying as they told me the story, but when they got to the part of how they
crossed the Rio Grande River, with their son in a stroller on a raft of some sort, I just wept. As I write these words I try to imagine what it would have been like to put the stroller on a raft and accompany the boy across the river.
Fr. Roy Snipes, OMI, took us for a boat ride on the Rio Grande River. There were Border Control towers everywhere and Border Control boats going back and forth. I understand that they are doing their job. The width of the river was, at most, 20-25 yards. When you are that close to a border, it all seems so arbitrary and even unnecessary. I took an empty water bottle and filled it with water from the Rio Grande River — holy water, made holy by God who created it and by the thousands of families who have crossed the river in search of a better life for them and their children.
On Thursday, along with the Notre Dame students here for a border immersion program, I visited one of the detention centers run by Customs and Border Protection. We were welcomed by several officers who were very kind and gracious to us. We were given a brief orientation and then had to turn over our cell phones and put them in lockers. We were told that if anyone was caught using a cell phone while we went through the center that he/she would be escorted out immediately. There was almost a paranoia about anything being filmed or recorded.
CNS photo/Paolo Galosi
I thought that I was ready for what I would see. But I was not. When we went into the interior of the building we could see hundreds of people — men, women, and children — locked up in cages, a total of 427 people. Many were sleeping on the floor covered with these space-looking blankets. We were told that this is the approximate number that is arrested each day and brought to this detention center. I will never be able to get this sight out of my mind — hundreds of people in locked cages. I wore my Roman collar and many people called out to me, “Padre, Padre.” I cannot put into words the helplessness that I felt as people called out to me saying “Padre” and I could do nothing except greet them in return.
The officers were polite and kind. They talk about their job. Like everyone else they tell of their work from their perspective, which is never the entire story. They would have you believe that every person that they apprehend is a criminal. And we have to be protected from these criminals. This is not the case at all. The overwhelming majority are people searching for a better life for their family and children. That is why they flee their country in search of asylum. Think — a family running out of a burning house. People never leave their house willingly, but if it’s burning, then they have to leave.
Towards the end of the presentation, I said to the presenter, “Why do you do this job?” The man who answered the question seemed uncomfortable with the question and sort of dodged the question. It’s a job and he needs a paycheck to feed and clothe and house his family. I am sure that he is a good man, a good husband, and a good father. One thought that I had as we left the detention center is this. At what point does a person decide that they cannot do a particular job? At what point is their faith and their job irreconcilable?
At the end of the presentation I said to the officer, “I want so much to dislike you, but I can’t.” Then, I thanked him for putting a human face to Customs and Border Protection.
On Friday I went to the Respite Center. I helped make lunch and gave out clothing to families who would be traveling to another city today. There was a woman there with a baby. I learned that her other child was in the hospital having had surgery last week. Her husband was with this child. I asked her if she wanted a ride to the hospital to see her daughter. She jumped at the idea and off we went — she, her baby, and me. She sat in the back seat with her baby who was in a car seat.
At one point she shrieked. As usual I thought that it was my bad driving. I asked her what was wrong. She said, “Se me olvido mi grillete.” I learned a new word in Spanish — “grillete.” That’s the word for those ankle bracelets the ICE puts on you when you are in the US without documents, but with permission. She said that she forgot to put the battery in her ankle bracelet when we left the Center. She had been charging it. So we called the Center and asked someone to bring it to her in the hospital.
The whole thing made me so sad. This poor woman with an ankle bracelet that tracks her every step so that ICE knows where she is at all times.
The will to begin fixing this broken system is not there. That’s the problem. Shame on us. We are talking about families and children who are suffering greatly. So many children suffering so much. May God have mercy on us for our indifference.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Rev. Joseph Corpora, CSC, serves as the Director of University-School Partnerships for the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). He has been instrumental in the Catholic School Advantage’s efforts to increase Latino enrollment in Catholic schools since the program’s inception in 2009.
DOING MERCY
“Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. . . . The wisdom from above is first pure, then peacable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”
— James 3:13-18
Summary
Fr. Joe Corpora, CSC reveals the human faces of immigrants and US Customs and Border Protection personnel. He tells the harrowing stories of families fleeing their homes, and he also attempts to sympathize with the agents who are complicit in the inhumane treatment of detained immigrants.
Questions for Conversation
• Fr. Joe says, “The poor can teach us so much about true dependence on God, not just saying it, but knowing it from the inside out.” How can I use this example to depend more fully on God?
• Am I willing to give up everything in service to family? If not, what is holding me back?
• Fr. Joe asks, “At what point does a person decide that they cannot do a particular job? At what point is their faith and their job irreconcilable?” What are your thoughts here?
GATHERING PRAYER
Isaiah 58:6-9
Is this not the fast that I have chosen — To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning... Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, “Here I am.”
For more information about Faith Feeds, visit bc.edu/c21faithfeeds This program is sponsored by Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Center, a catalyst and a resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church.
Background image courtesy of Leonardo Corral | Unsplash @corralpc
