El Paso Catholic Day of Action for Immigrant Children
The Third and Final Action in El Paso
The third and final Catholic Day of Action for Immigrant Children will take place starting at 3 p.m. MDT on Saturday, October 12 in El Paso, Texas. This will be the third in a series of Catholic Days of Action which began July 18th at the U.S. Capitol, was continued in Newark, New Jersey on September 4th, and will conclude in El Paso. These events include prayer, a call to action by Catholic leaders, and an opportunity to participate in nonviolent civil disobedience.
This action will take place during the Hope Border Institute Teach In, which will be held that weekend in El Paso. The event is being hosted and organized by the Hope Border Institute and local Catholic leaders and supported by the campaign that began in D.C.
You can register for the action annd learn more via the Facebook page. Those who are interested in attending the action are encouraged to also register for the Teach In in El Paso.
Our Plan in El Paso
Starting Friday night, October 11, we’ll join a powerful network of Catholic Latino organizers, scholars and activists for a three-day gathering of prayer, study and action to address the broken U.S. immigration system, crippled asylum process, and growing racism that fueled a mass shooting at the Walmart in El Paso on August 3rd that left 22 people dead and several injured.
Like so many of you, we are morally outraged at what is happening to our immigrant brothers and sisters at the border, especially the children. We urge you not to be paralyzed by despair, but to take action together!
On Saturday afternoon, we will process from a local church to one of the border bridges. We will follow the lead of Hope Border Institute and the Latinx Catholic Leadership Coalition who are organizing the Teach-In event. In solidarity, we will stand with them at the U.S.- Mexico border bridge and join their call for a moral response to migrants and for an end to racism. Follow the action on Facebook.
On Sunday, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso will celebrate Mass with us to close the Teach-In and send us out in peace.
Join us in prayer and action wherever you are!
We urge you to invite your faith community to gather in prayer and public witness. We offer the following resources:
• Prayer service for each week in October
• Pictures of immigrant children who have died in U.S. custody
• Prayer cards of immigrant children
• Signs
Why We Launched the Catholic Day of Action for Immigrant Children Campaign
We launched the campaign after we were shocked by images in a recent Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s report showing immigrant and refugee children detained in cages, separated from family members, and living in unsanitary, unhealthy conditions. The faith community cries out against this inhumane treatment of children, not only as a violation of human dignity and rights, but also as contrary to religious teachings and the sacred call to care for people who are most at risk, especially children. We call on our elected leaders to end the abuse, trauma, and detention of migrant children.