US Bishops to celebrate Mass for immigration reform

(Vatican Radio) A delegation of US Bishops is set to celebrate Mass along the border of the United States and Mexico.

Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston will be the main presider at the concelebrated Mass, with the lay faithful on both sides of the border participating. The Mass will be live-streamed on Youtube beginning at 10:00 a.m. local time (6:00 p.m. Rome time).

The Bishops taking part in the event have invited “all Catholics to unite in prayer, fasting and action for immigration reform.”

“We’re really very excited about the event of the celebration of the Mass along the border wall,” said Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, in whose Diocese the Mass will be taking place. In an interview with Vatican Radio, Bishop Kicanas said the Bishops were inspired in their efforts to call attention to the importance of reforming immigration policy in the United States. “Really it was Pope Francis’ visit to [the Italian island of] Lampedusa, in solidarity with those who have crossed the ocean and lost their lives there” that inspired the US Conference of Bishops “to want to emulate what he had done here on our border where also we experience the death of migrants trying to find a better way of life.”

At the Mass on the Border, the Bishops will be praying specifically for immigration reform, and for those who have died trying to cross the border.

Bishop Kicanas said the Mass is one of “a number of efforts on the part of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to prod and encourage our President and Congress to act” on immigration reform. He noted that the issue was on the agenda during the recent meeting between Pope Francis and US President Barack Obama.

The Church, said Bishop Kicanas, sees immigration not only as an economic or societal issue, but also as a moral-ethical issue. “It’s a moral issue because people are dying,” he said. “People are striving to find dignity and respect as human beings.” He pointed to the Church’s concern for the separation of families — “because the family is the fundamental unit of society” — and to the importance of ensuring that that people be given fair and proper treatment. It is precisely the moral dimension of the issue, he said, that underlies the Church’s commitment to immigration reform.

“I hope that it will raise the level of consciousness in our country that now is the time to act,” said Bishop Kicanas. “We have to stop the deaths in the desert, we have to find better ways for people to have access to work that is needed here and to be able to re-unite families. So our prayer is that this pilgrimage will be a success in prodding our government to take action.”

Listen to Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, speaking about the Mass on the Border:

The Mass on the Border will be streamed live on April 1, at 9 a.m. (PT) /12 p.m. (ET) — 6 p.m. CEST. It can be followed on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqY9GcA6lCA.