Five Ways to Stand with Immigrants

In the Catholic Church, we celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on the last Sunday of September – Sunday, September 28 – but for this Jubilee Year 2025, it will be celebrated in Rome as part of the Jubilee of Migrants on Oct. 4-5. For those of us not in Rome, we offer five actions you can take now to show your concern and support for immigrants.

Five Actions for Immigrants

  1. Sign the Cabrini Pledge to add your name to the Catholic commitment to care for immigrants in the United States, in the spirit of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants.

  2. Use the “Stand with Migrants” Toolkit to Plan a Rally and Prayer Vigil in your community. This toolkit was created by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Justice for Immigrants Campaign, which includes the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, and was sent to all U.S. dioceses. Ask your pastor about it and organize a rally and prayer vigil in your community!

  3. Send a Message to Congress. Tell Congress to report on human rights abuses in the six countries accepting immigrants deported from the United States. From our friends at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, “The risk of torture or abuse is high and an alarming concern.”

  4. Save the Date: Catholic Public Witness for Immigrants, Oct. 22 & Nov. 13. Our Jesuit friends invite Catholics across the United States to join a national day of public witness for our immigrant brothers and sisters. Learn more at https://1family.us/

  5. Invitation For Those in Washington, DC this Sunday, Sept. 28: Join us at the Archdiocese of Washington’s Migrants, Missionaries of Hope Procession and Mass. Starting at 2:30pm at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart (3211 Sacred Heart Way NW, near the corner of 16th Street and Park Road, NW, an easy walk from the Columbia Heights Metro Station) the procession will walk 1.8 miles. Ending with Mass at 5:30pm at the Cathedral of St. Matthew (1725 Rhode Island Ave NW), Mass will celebrated by Cardinal Robert McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington. Please note no signs are permitted on the prayerful procession.

In this moment of crisis and division in the United States, we are called to unite in hope and solidarity for our immigrant sisters and brothers. Please join us. Mother Cabrini, pray for us.