Immigration Reform 2013: Catholic Clergymen To Preach For Path To Citizenship In Masses On Sunday

Catholics going to mass in 22 states this Sunday will likely hear a sermon focusing on a reform of the nation's immigration system to extend a path to citizenship to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The church is kicking off a campaign to rally support among members, who will be encouraged to contact their Congressmen. It will also campaign more directly to some 60 Catholic Republican representatives in the House, who will become the target of advertising, phone calls and marches held in their districts in an attempt to urge them to drop their opposition to giving citizenship to the undocumented.

"We want to try to pull out all the stops," Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the New York Times in late August. "They have to hear the message that we want this done, and if you're not successful during the summer, you're not going to win by the end of the year." He and other Catholic leaders cite the Bible's teachings in their support for reform, but they also acknowledge the fact that the Latino immigrants represent a crucial base of membership for their church. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops believes that about 50 to 60 percent of the undocumented immigrants living in the United States are Catholic. "Everyday a priest of a lay person gets approached by an immigrant saying 'my parents have been deported, my parent is in detention, my loved one is lost in the desert, what can you do to help my family?'" Appleby told Fronteras Desk. "Unless we change the law in a positive way, there's not much we can do."

The church's effort aims to convince House Republicans - who have rejected a Senate bill offering a 13-year path to citizenship for about 8 million undocumented immigrants along with hugely ramped-up border security, and have dug in their heels against comprehensive reform - that there exists widespread support among Catholics for legislation with a path to citizenship. To that end, they're taking it to the congressional districts of House leadership during two months of "pilgrimages" - House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee - as well as Catholic representatives from Florida, California and Pennsylvania, according to the Washington Post.

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