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contact us
staff bios
"THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE CHURCH'S SOCIAL TEACHING FOR THOSE ENGAGED IN WORK WITH
NEWCOMERS"
MSGR. WILLIAM P. FAY, Ph.D.,(MAY 2000)
CLINIC CONVENING ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
1. It gives me great pleasure to be with you, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), for your third annual
gathering. As most of you know, I have treasured the association I have had with your work during my past five
years in the Office of the General Secretary, because what you do, day-in and day-out, for immigrants who have
arrived in the United States to build a new life for themselves is one of the most beautiful, if often hidden, works of
the Catholic Church in this country. The Bishops of the United States are very much aware of the ministry you
perform for some of the least of our brothers and sisters, and I bring you their encouragement and their abiding
support. They are very grateful for what you do in their own name.
When I was with you two years ago during your first annual convening, I took the occasion to offer you an
overview of Catholic social teaching on newcomers. Last year, I spoke to you, more specifically, about what the
Church teaches us about our undocumented brothers and sisters. Today, as I am present with you on the
occasion of your annual awards ceremony, my reflection finds itself focusing, fittingly enough, on you, and I
would like to offer a few words on what Catholic social teaching has to say about you who selflessly serve the
newcomers who are trying to find and establish a place among us in our society.
2. Let me begin by reflecting a bit on how far our nation has come in its view of newcomers since I first spoke to
you two years ago. I remember concluding my talk to you in 1998 by thanking God that, because of Christ and the
power of his Gospel, our nation's then rather negative attitude toward newcomers could only be temporary. That
same year, Bishop Carlos Sevilla prophetically addressed that "un-American" phenomenon with by giving special
attention to anti-immigrant policy makers, and stated that "in public life, as in personal life, a persistent habit of
demeaning others, especially those who, in fact, are in need of our help, points to a grave spiritual disorder."1
Now some two years later, although many of the worst provisions of the 1996 immigration and welfare reform
legislation remain in place, the public debate on newcomers has reversed course. Our presidential candidates
compete to outdo each other in their praise of immigrants -- their family values, their work ethic, their love of
freedom. The Catholic Church, organized labor, and corporate America have all called for a broad "amnesty"
program for undocumented newcomers. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, recognizing the vital importance of
newcomers to our nationÕs economy, has urged Congress to increase the number of immigrants admitted to the
United States. Who would have guessed that our nation would have turned so quickly from its anti-immigrant
stance? And, more to the point, how could this have happened?
I do not think it overstates matters to say that your witness and your work have played a fundamental role in this
sea change. After all, it is to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants -- whom you helped to naturalize over the
last several years -- that our politicians now find themselves appealing in their quest for public office. It is the
contribution of hard-working immigrants -- whose legal status you helped to obtain -- that is finally and deservingly
being recognized by their neighbors. In working to secure for newcomers their God-given rights, you have
demonstrated your faith that a transformation like this was not only possible, but inevitable. Although our
immigration laws and policies must still be reformed, your faith has been rewarded in a nation that increasingly
values newcomers as brothers and sisters.
3. Your work, it seems to me, witnesses to and furthers many fundamental tenets of Catholic social teaching. In
serving the stranger, you acknowledge the sanctity of life and the God-given dignity of all people. You strengthen
families and allow newcomers to participate fully in society. You allow others to work and, thus, to participate as
collaborators in the continuing work of GodÕs creation. You further the common good by recognizing, respecting,
safeguarding and promoting the rights of newcomers.2
Most of all, however, your work builds the human community. As you know, the Church has always viewed
migration as an opportunity to build the human family and the kingdom of God on earth. In 1969, for example, Pope
Paul VI approved an "Instruction on the Care of People Who Migrate" which emphasized that:
"Both for people who leave their homeland and for those who receive foreigners into their country, immigration
introduces a new element of living with people hitherto unknown. The function of lay people begins right here: that
the immigrants not be received as 'mere tools of production' but as brothers endowed with human dignity and
builders of a new and broader human community."3
From the Church's perspective, the very existence of uprooted persons points to the world's divisions -- poverty,
injustice, conflict, human rights violations, and discrimination.4 The Church has frequently urged the United States
to reflect on its own complicity in creating or failing to alleviate the conditions which give rise to migration. Again,
Bishop Sevilla reminded us in 1998 that "the failure of the federal government to stem the flow of needy immigrants
through foreign policy, including development, makes a telling point. Just imagine," he states, "if we had spent the
funds on development that we spent on warfare in Central America."5 We must change the conditions and
policies that uproot people, as well as those that prevent migrants from making a home in their countries of
destination.
Because migration reveals a divided world, your work with newcomers necessarily builds the human family. It is
in this context that the Church's "preferential option for the poor" should be understood. This term was coined by
the bishops of Latin America in their 1979 conference in Puebla, Mexico, and it has been used widely since, most
especially by our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. This expression does not imply that God somehow values the
poor more than others. Indeed, it would be perverse to interpret this now established principle of Catholic social
teaching in such a divisive way. Instead, it acknowledges the divisions that, in fact, do exist, as manifested by
uprooted people, and calls on the Church to bridge them. In heeding this call in your work with newcomers,
therefore, you are responding to this call of the Church, and by responding as generously as you do you serve all
of us.
4. Migration, you know, is a very real part of the life and existence of the Church. From the Exodus and Exile of
Ancient Israel, to the Holy Family's Flight into Egypt to escape persecution, to the work of Christian missionaries
beginning with the Apostles, and especially St. Paul, we have acknowledged ourselves as a people on the move.
As Catholics, we do not view "newcomers" as people alien to us, but as visible witnesses to our very identity as
pilgrims and migrants, a people who will not find a permanent home until we at home in heaven with God. Your
work honors this reality.
You also bear the torch of a long tradition of welcome to newcomers by the Catholic Church in the United States.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) reminded us of this proud tradition in their 1986 pastoral
statement on migrants and refugees:
"The Church extended its pastoral care to every new arriving group and devised innovative responses in the
context of the times ... The pastoral letters of the United States Catholic bishops and the pastoral practices of
dioceses and parishes document a tradition of welcome into the social church where there were no more
distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28).
A Church of many nations, the Catholic community was called to develop an attitude of welcome, mindful of the
LordÕs words: 'He who welcomes you welcomes me.'" (Mt. 10:40).6
It is this last conviction -- that newcomers image Jesus Christ -- that the U.S. bishops used, nine years later, to
fashion their pastoral statement "One Family Under God." In that document, they stated: "The New Testament
shifts from identifying with strangers based on a common experience to serving strangers because in each face
we see Christ."7 In serving newcomers, then, you serve your Lord.
5. Your work, of course, also builds the Catholic Church. In fact, your work touches upon the very identity of the
Church. The Church views itself as a "sacrament -- a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of
the unity of the entire human race."8 As the Bishops have reminded us again and again: "The mission that Christ
came to realize among men consists in 'gather[ing] into one the scattered children of God" (Jn 11:52).9 The
Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People has described the responsibilities of the
local church toward immigrants as follows:
"[to] incarnate the demands of the Gospel, reaching out without distinction towards these people in their moment
of need and solitude. Her task takes on various forms: personal contact; defense of the rights of individuals and
groups; the denunciation of the injustices that are at the root of this evil; actions for the adoption of laws that will
guarantee their effective protection; education against xenophobia; the creation of groups of volunteers and of
emergency funds; pastoral care."10
If these words have a familiar ring to them for you, it is because it would be difficult to find a better description of
the work that you do. Know, then, that in serving immigrants, you are not only acting with and for the Church; you
are, with God's direction and help, building it as well. You are collaborators, in other words, in the very coming of
the Kingdom of God in our midst.
6. Another way to look at what you do is through the prisms of justice and charity. Justice is a natural virtue,
found in the best of human beings -- whether they are believers or not -- that enables us to challenge and
addresses human structures and institutions that divide communities and foster inequality. Charity, on the other
hand, is a theological or spiritual virtue, given to us directly by God -- and recognized as such by the believer --
that enables us to love as God loves, especially in the love we exercise toward the poorest among us, the victims
of injustice. However, different as they are, justice and charity have a profound relationship, because they flow
from the same source -- the God-given dignity of each human being, and this is the conviction that founds and
motivates the Church's work towards newcomers. The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant People expresses this beautifully when it states:
"Christians, strong in the certainty of their faith, must demonstrate that by placing the dignity of the human person
with all his or her needs in first place, the obstacles created by injustice will begin to fall. They are aware that
God, who walked with the refugees of the Exodus in search of a land free of any slavery is still walking with
today's refugees in order to accomplish his loving plan together with them."11
"Christians, strong in the certainty of their faith, must demonstrate that by placing the dignity of the human person
with all his or her needs in first place, the obstacles created by injustice will begin to fall. They are aware that
God, who walked with the refugees of the Exodus in search of a land free of any slavery is still walking with
today's refugees in order to accomplish his loving plan together with them."11
In the Catholic view, charity fulfills the work of justice and is indeed its proper end. As Pope Paul VI pointed out:
"It is not enough to recall principles, state intentions, point to crying injustices and utter prophetic denunciations;
these words will lack real weight unless they are accompanied for each individual by a livelier awareness of
personal responsibility and by effective action."12
Or as the Bishops of the United States put it in 1986, works of charity and, in particular, service to newcomers
affirmatively promote justice:
"The task of welcoming immigrants, refugees and displaced persons into full participation in the Church and
society with equal rights and duties continues the biblical understanding of the justice of God reaching out to all
peoples and rectifying the situation of the poor, the orphans, the widows, the disadvantaged, and especially in the
Old Testament, the alien and the stranger."13
Clearly, your work is an exercise in both justice and charity. In challenging laws and policies that divide families
and marginalize newcomers, you are working for and promoting justice. In securing legal status and work
authorization for newcomers, as well as in working to change the attitudes of our fellow citizens towards
newcomers, you are fulfilling the Lord's command to charity. In all of this you are helping newcomers to embrace
in their own lives the virtues of justice and charity in their own relationships with their new brothers and sisters.
That is why, of course, so many of our newcomers ultimately give themselves to the work of helping other
newcomers who follow them to this country. What a wonderful work that is yours!
7. As I hold the beautiful work you do before me, I want to offer you a personal appeal. I know that, on a
day-to-day basis, your work can be demanding and even chaotic. I know, too, that it can be discouraging to turn
away needy people who, under our current laws, you cannot help. In these circumstances, it is vitally important
for you to sustain your spiritual life. In this, you can draw on the Church's long tradition of "contemplatives in
action," of other social justice advocates, like Dorothy Day, whose spirituality grounded their work. You should,
after their example, follow the example of the Lord Jesus who frequently withdrew to pray in quiet places prior to
important decisions and crises in his own life. This is not to urge you to retreat from your clients, but to take care
to renew yourself, so that you can continue to see God in your own work and in those you serve. Legal
assistance, without a spiritual basis, can lead to drudgery, legalisms, and resentment towards those you assist.
You may even find yourself feeling, as St. Paul himself experienced, that "I do not do the good I want to do;
instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do." (Romans 7:19). Those sentiments will be greatly lessened if you
keep yourself close to the Lord, and realize, in the end, that your work is really his work, and not your own, and
that he will see it through to its end. In fact, it is GodÕs Kingdom, and not our own, that is being built.
In the fulfillment of your work, it is also important to keep the right perspective. As Jesus reminds us in the Gospel
of St. Mark, the Kingdom of God is "like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all
the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth
branches, so that the birds of the air can make their nests in the shade." (Mark 4:30). Sometimes, what you are
doing today may seem like the smallest of efforts. In the end, however, these small seeds of work will have the
greatest of results, because they reverence the true dignity of the human person and contribute to the community
of love for which God created us and gave us as our destiny.
Today, we are honoring some of our co-workers, on their anniversaries, who embody this parable; whose work,
year in and out, has "provided shade" to thousands of newcomers. We are grateful for their work and their
witness, and for the way in which their lives remind us that the mustard seed must be rooted in rich soil to grow
and to thrive. I urge each of you to continue to root your work in God, so that in serving the stranger, you may
continue to seek and to find God in your own lives and in your work.
8. Let me, then, conclude with an old Celtic blessing which speaks my own heart's wish for each of you. May the
blessing of light be on you, light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine upon you and warm your
heart till it glows like a great fire, and strangers may warm themselves as well as friends. And may the light shine
out of the eyes of you, like the candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer to come in out of the
storm. May you ever have a kindly greeting for people as you're going along the roads.
And now may the Lord bless you and bless you kindly.
Amen.14
Thank you very much.
1. Most Rev. Carlos Sevilla, "The Ethics of Immigration Reform, " Origins, Vol. 27. No. 43 (April 16, 1998).
2. John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, ¤ 39 (1963)
3. Sacred Congregation for Bishops, "Instructions on the Pastoral Care of People Who Migrate", ¤ 57 (Aug. 22,
1969).
4. Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" and Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People,
Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity, ¤ 25 (1992).
5. Sevilla, Ibid.
6. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Together a New People, ¤ 2.
7. U.S. Bishops' Committee on Migration, One Family Under God, ¤ 3.
8. The Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, Chap. 1, Art. 1 (1964).
9. One Family Under God, ¤ 1.
10. Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity ¤ 26.
11. Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity ¤ 25.
12. Pope Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens, ¤ 48 (May 14, 1971).
13. Together a New People, ¤ 7.
14. Cf. Jubilee for Refugees: A Biblical Reflection on Refugees at the Millennium, Bishops Conference of England
and Wales, 1999, ¤ 5.
MSGR. WILLIAM P. FAY, Ph.D.,
NEWCOMERS"
MSGR. WILLIAM P. FAY, Ph.D.,(MAY 2000)
CLINIC CONVENING ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
1. It gives me great pleasure to be with you, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), for your third annual
gathering. As most of you know, I have treasured the association I have had with your work during my past five
years in the Office of the General Secretary, because what you do, day-in and day-out, for immigrants who have
arrived in the United States to build a new life for themselves is one of the most beautiful, if often hidden, works of
the Catholic Church in this country. The Bishops of the United States are very much aware of the ministry you
perform for some of the least of our brothers and sisters, and I bring you their encouragement and their abiding
support. They are very grateful for what you do in their own name.
When I was with you two years ago during your first annual convening, I took the occasion to offer you an
overview of Catholic social teaching on newcomers. Last year, I spoke to you, more specifically, about what the
Church teaches us about our undocumented brothers and sisters. Today, as I am present with you on the
occasion of your annual awards ceremony, my reflection finds itself focusing, fittingly enough, on you, and I
would like to offer a few words on what Catholic social teaching has to say about you who selflessly serve the
newcomers who are trying to find and establish a place among us in our society.
2. Let me begin by reflecting a bit on how far our nation has come in its view of newcomers since I first spoke to
you two years ago. I remember concluding my talk to you in 1998 by thanking God that, because of Christ and the
power of his Gospel, our nation's then rather negative attitude toward newcomers could only be temporary. That
same year, Bishop Carlos Sevilla prophetically addressed that "un-American" phenomenon with by giving special
attention to anti-immigrant policy makers, and stated that "in public life, as in personal life, a persistent habit of
demeaning others, especially those who, in fact, are in need of our help, points to a grave spiritual disorder."1
Now some two years later, although many of the worst provisions of the 1996 immigration and welfare reform
legislation remain in place, the public debate on newcomers has reversed course. Our presidential candidates
compete to outdo each other in their praise of immigrants -- their family values, their work ethic, their love of
freedom. The Catholic Church, organized labor, and corporate America have all called for a broad "amnesty"
program for undocumented newcomers. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, recognizing the vital importance of
newcomers to our nationÕs economy, has urged Congress to increase the number of immigrants admitted to the
United States. Who would have guessed that our nation would have turned so quickly from its anti-immigrant
stance? And, more to the point, how could this have happened?
I do not think it overstates matters to say that your witness and your work have played a fundamental role in this
sea change. After all, it is to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants -- whom you helped to naturalize over the
last several years -- that our politicians now find themselves appealing in their quest for public office. It is the
contribution of hard-working immigrants -- whose legal status you helped to obtain -- that is finally and deservingly
being recognized by their neighbors. In working to secure for newcomers their God-given rights, you have
demonstrated your faith that a transformation like this was not only possible, but inevitable. Although our
immigration laws and policies must still be reformed, your faith has been rewarded in a nation that increasingly
values newcomers as brothers and sisters.
3. Your work, it seems to me, witnesses to and furthers many fundamental tenets of Catholic social teaching. In
serving the stranger, you acknowledge the sanctity of life and the God-given dignity of all people. You strengthen
families and allow newcomers to participate fully in society. You allow others to work and, thus, to participate as
collaborators in the continuing work of GodÕs creation. You further the common good by recognizing, respecting,
safeguarding and promoting the rights of newcomers.2
Most of all, however, your work builds the human community. As you know, the Church has always viewed
migration as an opportunity to build the human family and the kingdom of God on earth. In 1969, for example, Pope
Paul VI approved an "Instruction on the Care of People Who Migrate" which emphasized that:
"Both for people who leave their homeland and for those who receive foreigners into their country, immigration
introduces a new element of living with people hitherto unknown. The function of lay people begins right here: that
the immigrants not be received as 'mere tools of production' but as brothers endowed with human dignity and
builders of a new and broader human community."3
From the Church's perspective, the very existence of uprooted persons points to the world's divisions -- poverty,
injustice, conflict, human rights violations, and discrimination.4 The Church has frequently urged the United States
to reflect on its own complicity in creating or failing to alleviate the conditions which give rise to migration. Again,
Bishop Sevilla reminded us in 1998 that "the failure of the federal government to stem the flow of needy immigrants
through foreign policy, including development, makes a telling point. Just imagine," he states, "if we had spent the
funds on development that we spent on warfare in Central America."5 We must change the conditions and
policies that uproot people, as well as those that prevent migrants from making a home in their countries of
destination.
Because migration reveals a divided world, your work with newcomers necessarily builds the human family. It is
in this context that the Church's "preferential option for the poor" should be understood. This term was coined by
the bishops of Latin America in their 1979 conference in Puebla, Mexico, and it has been used widely since, most
especially by our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. This expression does not imply that God somehow values the
poor more than others. Indeed, it would be perverse to interpret this now established principle of Catholic social
teaching in such a divisive way. Instead, it acknowledges the divisions that, in fact, do exist, as manifested by
uprooted people, and calls on the Church to bridge them. In heeding this call in your work with newcomers,
therefore, you are responding to this call of the Church, and by responding as generously as you do you serve all
of us.
4. Migration, you know, is a very real part of the life and existence of the Church. From the Exodus and Exile of
Ancient Israel, to the Holy Family's Flight into Egypt to escape persecution, to the work of Christian missionaries
beginning with the Apostles, and especially St. Paul, we have acknowledged ourselves as a people on the move.
As Catholics, we do not view "newcomers" as people alien to us, but as visible witnesses to our very identity as
pilgrims and migrants, a people who will not find a permanent home until we at home in heaven with God. Your
work honors this reality.
You also bear the torch of a long tradition of welcome to newcomers by the Catholic Church in the United States.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) reminded us of this proud tradition in their 1986 pastoral
statement on migrants and refugees:
"The Church extended its pastoral care to every new arriving group and devised innovative responses in the
context of the times ... The pastoral letters of the United States Catholic bishops and the pastoral practices of
dioceses and parishes document a tradition of welcome into the social church where there were no more
distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28).
A Church of many nations, the Catholic community was called to develop an attitude of welcome, mindful of the
LordÕs words: 'He who welcomes you welcomes me.'" (Mt. 10:40).6
It is this last conviction -- that newcomers image Jesus Christ -- that the U.S. bishops used, nine years later, to
fashion their pastoral statement "One Family Under God." In that document, they stated: "The New Testament
shifts from identifying with strangers based on a common experience to serving strangers because in each face
we see Christ."7 In serving newcomers, then, you serve your Lord.
5. Your work, of course, also builds the Catholic Church. In fact, your work touches upon the very identity of the
Church. The Church views itself as a "sacrament -- a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of
the unity of the entire human race."8 As the Bishops have reminded us again and again: "The mission that Christ
came to realize among men consists in 'gather[ing] into one the scattered children of God" (Jn 11:52).9 The
Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People has described the responsibilities of the
local church toward immigrants as follows:
"[to] incarnate the demands of the Gospel, reaching out without distinction towards these people in their moment
of need and solitude. Her task takes on various forms: personal contact; defense of the rights of individuals and
groups; the denunciation of the injustices that are at the root of this evil; actions for the adoption of laws that will
guarantee their effective protection; education against xenophobia; the creation of groups of volunteers and of
emergency funds; pastoral care."10
If these words have a familiar ring to them for you, it is because it would be difficult to find a better description of
the work that you do. Know, then, that in serving immigrants, you are not only acting with and for the Church; you
are, with God's direction and help, building it as well. You are collaborators, in other words, in the very coming of
the Kingdom of God in our midst.
6. Another way to look at what you do is through the prisms of justice and charity. Justice is a natural virtue,
found in the best of human beings -- whether they are believers or not -- that enables us to challenge and
addresses human structures and institutions that divide communities and foster inequality. Charity, on the other
hand, is a theological or spiritual virtue, given to us directly by God -- and recognized as such by the believer --
that enables us to love as God loves, especially in the love we exercise toward the poorest among us, the victims
of injustice. However, different as they are, justice and charity have a profound relationship, because they flow
from the same source -- the God-given dignity of each human being, and this is the conviction that founds and
motivates the Church's work towards newcomers. The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant People expresses this beautifully when it states:
"Christians, strong in the certainty of their faith, must demonstrate that by placing the dignity of the human person
with all his or her needs in first place, the obstacles created by injustice will begin to fall. They are aware that
God, who walked with the refugees of the Exodus in search of a land free of any slavery is still walking with
today's refugees in order to accomplish his loving plan together with them."11
"Christians, strong in the certainty of their faith, must demonstrate that by placing the dignity of the human person
with all his or her needs in first place, the obstacles created by injustice will begin to fall. They are aware that
God, who walked with the refugees of the Exodus in search of a land free of any slavery is still walking with
today's refugees in order to accomplish his loving plan together with them."11
In the Catholic view, charity fulfills the work of justice and is indeed its proper end. As Pope Paul VI pointed out:
"It is not enough to recall principles, state intentions, point to crying injustices and utter prophetic denunciations;
these words will lack real weight unless they are accompanied for each individual by a livelier awareness of
personal responsibility and by effective action."12
Or as the Bishops of the United States put it in 1986, works of charity and, in particular, service to newcomers
affirmatively promote justice:
"The task of welcoming immigrants, refugees and displaced persons into full participation in the Church and
society with equal rights and duties continues the biblical understanding of the justice of God reaching out to all
peoples and rectifying the situation of the poor, the orphans, the widows, the disadvantaged, and especially in the
Old Testament, the alien and the stranger."13
Clearly, your work is an exercise in both justice and charity. In challenging laws and policies that divide families
and marginalize newcomers, you are working for and promoting justice. In securing legal status and work
authorization for newcomers, as well as in working to change the attitudes of our fellow citizens towards
newcomers, you are fulfilling the Lord's command to charity. In all of this you are helping newcomers to embrace
in their own lives the virtues of justice and charity in their own relationships with their new brothers and sisters.
That is why, of course, so many of our newcomers ultimately give themselves to the work of helping other
newcomers who follow them to this country. What a wonderful work that is yours!
7. As I hold the beautiful work you do before me, I want to offer you a personal appeal. I know that, on a
day-to-day basis, your work can be demanding and even chaotic. I know, too, that it can be discouraging to turn
away needy people who, under our current laws, you cannot help. In these circumstances, it is vitally important
for you to sustain your spiritual life. In this, you can draw on the Church's long tradition of "contemplatives in
action," of other social justice advocates, like Dorothy Day, whose spirituality grounded their work. You should,
after their example, follow the example of the Lord Jesus who frequently withdrew to pray in quiet places prior to
important decisions and crises in his own life. This is not to urge you to retreat from your clients, but to take care
to renew yourself, so that you can continue to see God in your own work and in those you serve. Legal
assistance, without a spiritual basis, can lead to drudgery, legalisms, and resentment towards those you assist.
You may even find yourself feeling, as St. Paul himself experienced, that "I do not do the good I want to do;
instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do." (Romans 7:19). Those sentiments will be greatly lessened if you
keep yourself close to the Lord, and realize, in the end, that your work is really his work, and not your own, and
that he will see it through to its end. In fact, it is GodÕs Kingdom, and not our own, that is being built.
In the fulfillment of your work, it is also important to keep the right perspective. As Jesus reminds us in the Gospel
of St. Mark, the Kingdom of God is "like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all
the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth
branches, so that the birds of the air can make their nests in the shade." (Mark 4:30). Sometimes, what you are
doing today may seem like the smallest of efforts. In the end, however, these small seeds of work will have the
greatest of results, because they reverence the true dignity of the human person and contribute to the community
of love for which God created us and gave us as our destiny.
Today, we are honoring some of our co-workers, on their anniversaries, who embody this parable; whose work,
year in and out, has "provided shade" to thousands of newcomers. We are grateful for their work and their
witness, and for the way in which their lives remind us that the mustard seed must be rooted in rich soil to grow
and to thrive. I urge each of you to continue to root your work in God, so that in serving the stranger, you may
continue to seek and to find God in your own lives and in your work.
8. Let me, then, conclude with an old Celtic blessing which speaks my own heart's wish for each of you. May the
blessing of light be on you, light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine upon you and warm your
heart till it glows like a great fire, and strangers may warm themselves as well as friends. And may the light shine
out of the eyes of you, like the candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer to come in out of the
storm. May you ever have a kindly greeting for people as you're going along the roads.
And now may the Lord bless you and bless you kindly.
Amen.14
Thank you very much.
1. Most Rev. Carlos Sevilla, "The Ethics of Immigration Reform, " Origins, Vol. 27. No. 43 (April 16, 1998).
2. John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, ¤ 39 (1963)
3. Sacred Congregation for Bishops, "Instructions on the Pastoral Care of People Who Migrate", ¤ 57 (Aug. 22,
1969).
4. Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" and Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People,
Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity, ¤ 25 (1992).
5. Sevilla, Ibid.
6. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Together a New People, ¤ 2.
7. U.S. Bishops' Committee on Migration, One Family Under God, ¤ 3.
8. The Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, Chap. 1, Art. 1 (1964).
9. One Family Under God, ¤ 1.
10. Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity ¤ 26.
11. Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity ¤ 25.
12. Pope Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens, ¤ 48 (May 14, 1971).
13. Together a New People, ¤ 7.
14. Cf. Jubilee for Refugees: A Biblical Reflection on Refugees at the Millennium, Bishops Conference of England
and Wales, 1999, ¤ 5.
MSGR. WILLIAM P. FAY, Ph.D.,
415 Michigan Ave., NE
Suite 150
Washington, DC 20017
202.635.2556
202.635.2649 fax
media inquiries:
e-mail me
(202) 635-5810
Suite 150
Washington, DC 20017
202.635.2556
202.635.2649 fax
media inquiries:
e-mail me
(202) 635-5810
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