|
Printer-friendly Meet the founding member organizations of Justice for Immigrants. The following organizations, while varying in their focus, agree that the time for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is now.
Migration and Refugee Services-
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Migration and Refugee Services carries out the commitment of the
Roman Catholic bishops of the United States to serve and advocate for
immigrants, refugees, migrants, and people on the move. This commitment
is rooted in the Gospel mandate that every person is to be welcomed by
the disciple as if he or she were Christ himself and in the right of
every human being to pursue, without restraint, the call of holiness.
Migration and Refugee Services contributes to this commitment in an
integrated fashion by:
- Assisting the bishops in the development and advocacy of policy
positions at the national and international levels that address the
needs and conditions of immigrants, refugees, migrants, and people
on the move.
- Working with the federal government and local churches in
resettling refugees admitted to the United States into caring and
supportive communities.
- Assisting local churches and specialized apostolates in responding
to the pastoral needs of Catholics among these populations,
including the facilitation of pastoral accompaniment of migrants as
necessary and possible, thereby aiding in the development and
nurturing of a welcoming and supportive Church in the United States.
Go up
↑
The Catholic Legal Immigration
Network, Inc. (CLINIC)
CLINIC is an immigrant legal service organization
that is a subsidiary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
(USCCB). Founded in 1988, its mission is “to enhance and expand the
delivery of legal services to indigent and low-income immigrants
principally through diocesan immigration programs and to meet the
immigration needs identified by the Catholic Church in the United
States.”
More than 155 Catholic Charities and diocesan
immigration legal programs receive a full range of legal and non-legal
training and technical support services from CLINIC. These programs
provide legal services out of 247 offices and employ more than 1,200
legal practitioners who rely on CLINIC for training and case support.
CLINIC attorneys
work out of 13 offices nationwide. CLINIC’s Board of Directors consists
of elected and appointed bishops, as well as laypersons. Everyday,
CLINIC and its member agencies experience the great need for
comprehensive immigration reform, the need for public education in
immigrant communities, and the need for charitable agencies to build
legal capacity so that they might better serve these communities.
Go up
↑
The Catholic Campaign
for Human Development
The
Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is the domestic anti-poverty,
social justice program of the U.S. Catholic bishops.
Its
mission is to address the root causes of poverty in America through
promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations
and through transformative education.
Founded
in 1969, CCHD's pastoral strategy is empowerment of the poor through a
methodology of participation and education for justice, leading toward
solidarity between poor and non-poor as impelled by the Church's
biblical tradition, modern Catholic social teaching, and the pervasive
presence of poverty in the United States. This ministry for justice is
rooted in our baptism and faith commitment.
The
grants, economic development, and education for justice programs of the
Campaign, implemented in collaboration with local dioceses, are
supported from an annual collection in U.S. Catholic parishes.
Go up
↑
Catholic Campaign Against
Global Poverty
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic
Relief Services unite in a Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty to
advocate for U.S. policies that foster economic and social developments
for people living in poverty throughout the world. The campaign focuses
on three areas of U.S. economic policy:
- Trade: Shaping
U.S. trade policies so that overcoming poverty and promoting human
development are central priorities;
- Aid: Supporting
effective programs that foster long-term development and empowerment
of the poor;
- Debt:
Eliminating the debt of the poorest countries in ways that reduce
poverty and promote human dignity.
The Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty recognizes that
the shortcomings of U.S. economic policies relating to trade, aid, and
debt serve as “push factors,” directly impacting migration pressures in
the U.S. The need to address the forces that drive migration creates a
natural working relationship between a Catholic Campaign Against Global
Poverty and Justice for Immigrants: The Catholic Campaign for
Immigration Reform.
Go up
↑
Catholic Charities USA
Catholic Charities USA
is the membership association of one of the nation's largest social
service networks. Our members‑more than 1,300 local agencies and
institutions nationwide‑provide help and create hope for nearly seven
million people a year regardless of religious, social, or economic
backgrounds. For more than 275 years, local Catholic Charities agencies
have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities,
ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing. In 2003,
local Catholic Charities agencies served more than 377,000 immigrants
and refugees, offering such services as legal aid, citizenship classes,
counseling, case management, legalization assistance, English classes,
job placement and training, and much more.
Go up
↑
Catholic Health
Association
The St. Louis-based
Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) is the national
leadership organization of the Catholic health ministry. By pursuing the
strategic directions of mission, ethics, and advocacy, CHA is engaged in
strengthening the health ministry for the future and creating health
care that works for all. CHA represents more than 2,000 sponsors,
systems, facilities, and related organizations that form the nation's
largest group of not-for-profit health care. Founded in 1915, CHA unites
the ministry engaged to advance selected strategic issues that are best
addressed together rather than as individual organizations.
Go up
↑
Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network
The Catholic Migant
Farmworker Network (CMFN) is a national organization dedicated to
pastoral ministry with migrant and seasonal farm workers. Founded in
1986, the Network operates with the support and collaboration of the
Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees of the U.S.
Catholic Conference.
The CMFN works to
bring the pastoral presence of the Church to thousands of migrant farm
workers throughout our country. Though most farm workers continue to
adhere to their traditional faith, they often lack the pastoral presence
and support of the local church community.
Go up
↑
Catholic
Relief Services
Catholic Relief
Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United
States. Our mission is to assist the poor and disadvantaged, leveraging
the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to alleviate human
suffering, promote development of all people and to foster charity and
justice throughout the world.
Working through local
offices and an extensive network of partners, CRS operates on 5
continents and in over 90 countries. We aid the poor by first providing
direct assistance where needed, then encouraging these people to help
with their own development. Together, this fosters secure, productive,
just communities that enable people to realize their potential.
As the official
international relief and development agency of the US Catholic
community, CRS is also committed to educating the people of the United
States to fulfill their moral responsibilities toward our global
brothers and sisters by helping the poor, working to remove the causes
of poverty, and promoting social justice.
Go up
↑
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
The Conference of Major
Superiors of Men (CMSM) is an association of the leadership of men in
religious and apostolic institutes in the United States. The Conference
has formal ties with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the
Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the National Assembly of
Religious Brothers and other national agencies. CMSM represents U.S.
male religious and apostolic communities before a number of national and
international bodies, including the Congregation of Religious and
Secular Institutes of the Holy See, which officially recognizes CMSM as
the national representative body for men in religious and apostolic
communities in the United States.
Go up
↑
The
Department of Social Development and World Peace/ United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops
The Department of Social Development
and World Peace is the national public policy agency of the U.S.
Catholic Bishops. The Department has three permanent offices:
Domestic Social Development
and International
Justice and Peace, and Diocesan Relations.
All three offices work
together to ensure that the mission of the department is accomplished
both in Washington, D.C. and in every diocese in the United States. The Department's goals are to help the
U. S. bishops:
- Share the social teaching of the Church
- Apply Catholic
social teaching to major contemporary domestic and international issues
which have significant moral and human dimensions.
- Advocate
effectively for the poor and vulnerable and for genuine justice and
peace in the public policy arena.
- Build the
capacity of the Church (national and diocesan) to act effectively in
defense of human life, human dignity, human rights and the pursuit of
justice and peace.
Go up
↑
The Irish Apostolate
USA
The Irish Apostolate USA
is the response of the Irish and American Catholic Bishops to the needs
of Irish immigrants in the United States – the needs of the whole human
person. It is the Christian imperative of caring for those who move far
from the ancestral home, and welcoming the stranger as one would welcome
Christ, once an exile himself. We were founded in the late 1980s as a
response to the appointment of Chaplains in the United States. Today the
range of services is all-embracing: immigration matters, employment,
accommodation, legal advice, accidents or unexpected illness, sudden
death, depression, counseling, relationship problems, hospitalization,
imprisonment, loneliness, educational needs, mother and toddler needs,
sacramental (especially Baptism and Marriage) preparation, computer
skills, job training, etc. We celebrate with them at Marriages,
Baptisms, House blessings and Masses, and special feasts.
Go up
↑
The Jesuit Conference
The Society of Jesus
(Jesuits) has chosen migration as one of its priority concerns. The
worldwide presence of Jesuits and colleagues allows coordinated pastoral
work, academic research and advocacy. In the U.S., the Jesuit Conference
in Washington, D.C. coordinates our work with parishes and community
organizations, with universities and social centers, and with local,
national and international advocacy groups. We also coordinate
internationally, for example with the Jesusit Migration Service of
Mexico and Central America as well as with the Jesuit Refugee Service.
Go up
↑
Jesuit Refugee Services
As an international
Catholic organization and a work of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit
Refugee Service (JRS) is present in nearly 50 countries throughout the
world. Its mission is to accompany, serve and defend the rights of
refugees and forcibly displaced persons. JRS provides assistance to
refugees in refugee camps, to people displaced within their own country,
to asylum seekers in cities and those held in detention centers. Like
each of the ten geographic regions of JRS, the mission of the Jesuit
Refugee Service/USA (JRS/USA) is to care for the most vulnerable of
refugees, in particular those whose plight has been forgotten by the
rest of the world. Following Catholic social teaching, the mission of
JRS applies the term de facto refugee to all persons persecuted because
of race, religion, membership in social or political groups; to the
victims of armed conflicts, erroneous economic policy or natural
disasters; and to internally displaced persons, that is, civilians who
are forcibly uprooted from their homes by the same type of violence as
refugees but who do not cross national frontiers. Established in
response to the human needs of refugees, asylum seekers and displaced
people worldwide, the structure of JRS/USA is such that it allows the
implementation of its mission both within and outside the U.S.
Go up
↑
The Leadership Conference of Women
Religious (LCWR)
The Leadership
Conference of Women Religious ( LCWR ) is the association of the leaders
of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States . The
conference has approximately 1000 members, who represent about 95
percent of the 75,000 women religious in the United States. Founded in
1956, the conference assists its members to collaboratively carry out
their service of leadership to further the mission of the Gospel in
today's world.
LCWR has a long history
of commitment to social justice, and since 1986 has approved and acted
upon seven Assembly Resolutions supporting human rights for
people who are refugees and immigrants.
Go up
↑
National Catholic Association of
Diocesan Directors of Hispanic Ministries
The
Diocesan Directors for Hispanic Ministry, recognizing the commitment of
Hispanic Catholics to the mission of Jesus Christ, unite in His
liberating spirit to promote the full participation of Hispanics in
church and society in communion with the Catholic bishops of the United
States. In the spirit of a pastoral de conjunto, we commit ourselves to
leadership development, mutual support, critical analysis and prayerful
reflection.
- Create an
association on the vision of a collaborative ministry;
- Engage
diocesan reflection and planning of Hispanic Ministry;
- Provide
continuing formation for diocesan directors;
- Assist
members in finding mutual support, recognition and acceptance;
- Develop a
common ministerial vision in the light of the Encuentros;
- Affirm the
reality of the church in the United States in its rich cultural
diversity, and continue to promote unity in pluralism as an expression
of our catholicity;
- Assist
Hispanics in the process of integration into the total life of the
Church and society.
Go up
↑
National Catholic Educational Association
(NCEA)
NCEA is the largest
private professional education organization in the world, representing
200,000 Catholic educators serving 7.6 million students in Catholic
elementary and secondary schools, in religious education programs, in
seminaries and in colleges and universities
Go up
↑
National Catholic Rural
Life Conference
Founded in
1923, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference has been a witness for
hope in rural America for more than 80 years. Throughout these eight
decades, the Rural Life Conference has lifted up and affirmed the rural
way of life. Over the years, the Catholic Rural Life Conference has
clearly stood in favor and support of rural people, family farms and
local businesses that promote sustainable community development.
Its mission to support and empower rural people is made more necessary
by globalization and world environmental issues. We join our members and
supporters in witnessing for hope in rural America.
Go up
↑
NETWORK
A Catholic Social Justice Lobby educates, organizes
and lobbies for economic and social transformation. Founded in 1971 by
47 Catholic sisters, NETWORK is supported by thousands of groups and
individuals committed to working for social and economic justice.
NETWORK is committed to working for comprehensive
immigration reform that meets the needs of immigrants and our nation as
a whole. We know that the current system is broken and that, as a
result, immigrant families find themselves separated from loved ones and
living in the shadows – this despite the fact that they are working hard
and making vital contributions to the U.S. economy.
Go up
↑
The
Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs- The United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops
The
office of Hispanic Affairs operates with these objectives:
- To ASSIST the Catholic Church in its efforts to serve the large
Catholic Hispanic/Latino population in the United
States and in the New Evangelization.
- To COORDINATE Hispanic ministry efforts in the Catholic Church
through regional and diocesan offices, pastoral institutes, secular
and ecclesial organizations, and apostolic movements.
- To PROMOTE the implementation of the
National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry,
Ecclesia in America, Many Faces in God's House: A Catholic Vision
for the Third Millennium, and other church documents, as well as
the development of small ecclesial communities.
- To INTEGRATE the Hispanic presence into the life of the Catholic
Church and society.
Go up
↑
The National Council
of Catholic Women (NCCW)
The National Council of
Catholic Women is an organization established in 1920 that "acts through
its membership to support, empower, and educate all Catholic women in
spirituality, leadership, and service. NCCW programs respond with
Gospel values to the needs of the Church and society in the modern
world."
NCCW is active in over
4500 parishes in 115 dioceses. In 1964 NCCW recognized in
an approved resolution, the great gifts which had been brought to our
land by the immigrants of the past and affirmed the need for reform of
our national immigration policy recognizing discriminatory national
quotas, separation of families, and the inadequate provisions for
refugees who had been accepted. Again in 1995 NCCW recognized proposed
and current laws that endangered the rights of immigrants, and children
born in this country of immigrant parents.
Go up
↑
The Roundtable
The Roundtable is the
national association of Catholic diocesan social action directors and
their staffs, providing professional support to members through
education, formation, professional relationships, and management
development. The association is committed to deepening the capacity of
social action directors to engage in the social mission of the church.
Social action
directors founded The ROUNDTABLE in 1985. The organization is a project
of The National Pastoral Life Center in New York City.
Go up
↑
|
