Our Story

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Mt 25:35)

In May 2005 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), who gathered in Chicago with Cardinal Francis George (Archbishop of Chicago and USCCB Vice President) and bishops from other dioceses, made a prophetic commitment to work for comprehensive immigration reform by launching the Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform (CCIR), which is now called the Justice for Immigrants (JFI) Campaign. The JFI Campaign’s three primary objectives are to:

  1. Educate the public, especially the Catholic community, about Church teaching on migration;

  2. Advocate for dignified and fair reforms in immigration and refugee laws and policies that reflect the principles enunciated by the bishops; and

  3. Organize Catholic legal service networks to assist immigrants in accessing the benefits of reforms.

2007: From Ashes to Immigrant Leadership

The Beginnings of Pastoral Migratoria

When Comprehensive Immigration Reform failed to pass in 2007 – and it became apparent there would be no legislative shelter any time soon – two fundamental questions surfaced among Chicago’s immigrant faith community when they met at a local parish to discern the current reality:

What is God’s telling us immigrants now that we need to live in state of uncertainty?

What can we do to help each other?

In response and with strong support of Cardinal George and Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago John Manz (Chairman, USCCB Committee on Migration), in 2008 the Pastoral Migratoria immigrant-led ministry of service, accompaniment and justice in parish communities began to take shape, serving the immigrant community of the Archdiocese of Chicago and rooted in the Aparecida methodology (listen – learn – proclaim) that was inspired by (now) Pope Francis.

2017: National Pilot Rollout of Pastoral Migratoria

Pastoral Migratoria’s early successes as an immigrant social ministry in Chicago pointed to an opportunity to share the PM model with other U.S. dioceses and parishes, echoing the interest we received from pastoral leaders amidst realities like these:

The local parish is often the first place immigrants go in their desperation to find basic social and pastoral resources. Unfortunately, many Hispanic parishes in the U.S. are seriously under-resourced to adequately meet the needs of their immigrant communities.

The institutional Church had no organized way of developing or empowering immigrant lay leaders at the parish level to take leadership.

With eight years of experience, by 2016 we were well equipped to share Pastoral Migratoria with parishes on a national level. After completing a business plan that provided a roadmap, in 2017 in partnership with the Vincentians (Congregation of the Mission) Western Province we launched a five-year national pilot of this ministry, beginning in the dioceses of Stockton, California and Kansas City – Saint Joseph, Missouri.

[Pastoral Migratoria's achievements were extensively reported in the Center for Migration Studies’ 2016 publication, “US Catholic Institutions and Immigrant Integration: Will the Church Rise to the Challenge?” (pps 54-63)]