The annual Shining Star Award Dinner is so popular that the Diocesan Migration Services has to run two of them. (See photos on Page 8.) Sixteen people were honored last week, and 13 more were scheduled to be honored this week as Catholics who have come to the U.S. from another country and made outstanding […]
For undocumented Latinos, the threat of deportation is an ever-present destabilizing factor that endangers their capacity to have a stable family and work life. And yet, less than half of all Latinos in the U.S. that are currently able to naturalize have done so. Barriers to getting a green card, which puts people on the […]
by Antonina Zielinska As the U.S. Congress debates immigration reform, Catholic Bishops throughout the U.S. prayed with immigrant communities on Sunday, Sept. 8, in a unified effort to promote change in the country’s legal system. In an answer to the call of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio celebrated a standing-room-only Spanish […]
by Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Before saying a word publicly, Pope Francis made the sign of the cross and tossed a wreath of white and yellow flowers into the Mediterranean Sea in memory of the estimated 20,000 African immigrants who have died in the past 25 years trying to reach a new life […]
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, The issue of immigration reform has surfaced now in the 113th Congress as a priority of both President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. It is important that we understand this issue from a Catholic perspective. The interest of the Church in the issue of immigration is […]
by Patricia Zapor Without getting into specifics, a panel of bishops said April 22 that a comprehensive immigration bill introduced the week before is on the right track, though they alluded to some aspects they would like changed. In a teleconference about the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, or S. […]
While it is far too early to know if a substantive outcome can be expected, the Senate initiative toward immigration reform is a welcome start. The draft introduced last Monday by a bipartisan team of eight Senators outlines four foundational pillars upon which the reforms will rest. Specifically, the plan addresses four points to overhaul […]
by Marie Elena Giossi Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio held an awards reception Oct. 18 to honor local recipients of this year’s national Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Grant recipients were personally congratulated by the bishop as well as Msgr. Alfred LoPinto, diocesan vicar for human services; Robert Siebel, CEO of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens […]
Deacon Chris Barber, who serves at St. Clare’s parish in Rosedale, is a special guy. You could say he was special because he was the only boy in a family that included nine sisters. You could say he was special because he once thought of being a priest and studied at Cathedral Prep Seminary, Elmhurst. […]
Earlier this year, representatives of the diocese’s Catholic Migration Services met with government officials to renew an alliance that has been promoting the rights of immigrant workers since 2009. Catholic Migration Services operates Linea Laboral, a toll-free workers’ rights hotline, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Mexico in New York, the U.S. Department of […]
