Stories of migration to U.S. shared at dialogue

Our ancestors were once immigrants from another country. How can that fact relate to the current debate on immigration in our country?
    For a start, why not bring people together to talk about it?
    On Oct. 6, that’s exactly what happened at a gathering sponsored by Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, the archdiocesan Office of Racial Harmony, the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University New Orleans and St. Clement of Rome Parish in Metairie.
    America-born citizens sat at tables sharing their family’s migration stories and experiences with immigrants who are now American citizens and with migrants working here on a path to citizenship.
     “We are not going to tell you how to think but to learn from each other,” said lead moderator Mary Baudouin, assistant for social and international ministries for the Jesuits’ New Orleans Province. “It’s a different way of being church. We are here not to persuade each other but to try to learn from each other. The purpose here is to build up the body of Christ.”
    
Father Luis Rodriguez, pastor of St. Clement of Rome, led a prayer asking participants to keep their hearts open during the dialogue and to be mindful that we are all – as the Pledge of Allegiance states, “one nation under God, indivisible.”
    Ten trained facilitators kept the conversation going among groups and stuck to time limits for each topic.
    People of diverse backgrounds landed at each of the five tables and offered a wealth of ideas on immigration. In one group, a Catholic man originally from India who has lived in the United States for 26 years sat alongside American-born citizens with Sicilian, German, Irish  and Cuban backgrounds and a Mexican immigrant.
    “I’m here to tell my side of the story and how I feel about it,” Robin Quadros said. “This country has been awesome. I look at it this way – it wasn’t given to me on a silver platter. I had to work. There were barriers, too, but if one door was closed, I knocked on another.”
    At another table, a Guatemalan in the United States on an expired work permit explained how he is thankful for his experiences in the United States. He said he would never have been able to attain the same life in his homeland.
    At another table, two brothers Manuel, 12, and Miguel Molina, 10, openly shared their thoughts on immigration with decidedly older tablemates. Their mother is American-born, while their father is not. They expressed their dislike of the word “illegal,” preferring “undocumented” for those here without proper papers.
    “I think they should all just be called people,” Miguel said.
 
   Manuel thought the process to get visas should be easier so people can work. Participants at the table also debated the types of community resources  – hospitals, schools, etc. – that should be provided to undocumented people, some expressing how people should be taught to help themselves.  The cultural mix of neighborhoods also was discussed, with one participant noting how New Orleans neighborhoods are more culturally diverse than the suburbs.
Catholic Church teaching
    In addition to sharing experiences, participants learned about the Catholic Church’s teachings on immigration as outlined in a pastoral letter issued by Catholic bishops in the United States and Mexico called “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.”

    They explored the bishops’ beliefs that the dignity and sanctity of the individual person should be upheld through a more humane and just immigration system that could be reformed by:
    ➤ Offering people opportunities in their homeland by promoting global anti-poverty efforts;
    ➤ Offering workers the right to migrate to support themselves and their families with more visas in the United States and a temporary worker program;
    ➤ Allowing sovereign nations the right to control their borders;
    ➤ Protecting refugees and asylum seekers who flee wars and persecution by offering more broad-based legalization and restoration of due process.
    “Many had no idea that the church has such strong and beautiful teachings on immigration,” said Sue Weishar, event organizer and a representative of the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University New Orleans.
    Weishar received positive comments after the session, many thanking her for holding the dialogue. Some said they were exposed to ideas they had never experienced and learned to be better listeners. Others gained a deeper understanding of their faith and the church’s teaching on immigration.
    “I felt as people shared their pain and experience, you could feel the Holy Spirit at work,” Weishar said. “For many, this was a profound experience. One reason that is possible is we are church. We all recognize that we have these same foundational beliefs. In the spirit of love, trust, reconciliation we can come together.”
    The session at St. Clement was the third Catholic Dialogue on Immigration this year in the Archdiocese of the New Orleans. The first was at St. Anthony of Padua in New Orleans in January and co-moderated by Catholic Relief Services. The second was in March at St. Jerome in Kenner. Another is being planned at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala.    
    “Hearing each other’s stories and the church’s teaching was eye-opening for people,” Baudouin said. “There are so many rumors and misconceptions (about immigration). We want people to have a sense of who the migrants are by hearing their stories.”
    Kevin Cahalan attended the session with his wife, Chris, and called himself a child of Irish immigrants. He has facilitated all three sessions.
    “It brings people together who would not ordinarily be together,” Cahalan said. “It opens individuals’ minds. I really believe we don’t have enough of the dialogue process in our country. We need more dialogue about everything.”