USCCB - (MRS) - National Migration Week

National Migration Week 2007

Welcoming Christ in the Migrant
January 7-13, 2007

Catholic Migration Teaching
Migration Policy Issues

Organize Social Ministry Activities

Here are some suggested activities to put our faith and social concerns for migrants into action:

Offer parish education programs about Catholic Social Teaching and the migrant experience.
Create opportunities for immigrants, migrants, and refugees to share their stories in the parish, the school, and the community.
Prepare welcome packets for newly arrived parishioners. Recruit volunteers to translate these materials into the primary languages of newcomers to your community.
Organize outreach to migrant or mobile populations in your community by posting flyers inviting newcomers to your parish (including Mass times) where migrant workers, seafarers, and other people on the move may see them.
Organize a collection of household items, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and furniture to assist migrants and refugees in setting up their homes in their new homeland.
Develop a local grass-roots migration advocacy network, and join the USCCB/Migration and Refugee Services Advocacy Network by calling (202) 541-3208 or emailing mrspol@nccbuscc.org
Celebrate multicultural liturgies frequently, integrating movement, music, art, and other cultural liturgical traditions such as processions and incense, particularly when the parish does not have the resources to offer regular services in the diverse traditions.
Recruit teams of lay ministers from various ethnic and linguistic backgrounds to assist parish leaders with pastoral duties such as shut-in visits, Eucharistic ministry, and multi-lingual religious education.
Establish a relationship with your diocesan refugee resettlement offices and volunteer to have the parish assist in refugee resettlement.