"As people of faith and as the season of Advent approaches, we remember the plight of Jesus’ parents as political realities in their homeland forced them to travel to a foreign country to preserve the life of their first born child."
(SALEM, Ore.) - "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:I lift my lamp beside the golden doorThe Statue of Liberty"
An event encouraging support for the humane treatment of U.S. immigrants will be held in Salem Friday November 16th at 11:00 AM. It takes place at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church 1010 Columbia Street NE at Portland Road in Salem, Oregon.
At this Ecumenical service, a Statement on Immigration signed by leaders of the Faith-based community from Marion and Polk Counties will be read. This Statement encourages our U.S. Congress and our President to continue to work toward comprehensive and humane immigration reform legislation.
"As people of faith and as the season of Advent approaches, we remember the plight of Jesus’ parents as political realities in their homeland forced them to travel to a foreign country to preserve the life of their first born child."
A plan of action will also be presented to respond to potential immigration enforcement raids and their impact on children, families, friends, neighbors, schools, businesses and churches, organizers say.
"We will also commemorate the 18th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of six Jesuit Priests and two women killed in El Salvador on November 16th 1989 by the Salvadorian Military."
The event will give honor to the six priests and two women who were killed because of their work for social justice and peace in Latin America.
They say they want this anniversary commemoration to serve as a reminder of the reasons why thousands of Latin American immigrants flee their countries of origin en route to the United States. Many immigrants are escaping poverty, economic degradation, crime, political and economic violence.
For more information on the event, you can contact the First Congregational Church at 503 363-3660 or CAUSA, the Immigrants Rights Coalition at 503 984-6816.
Images of the six Jesuit Priests who were killedThe names of the six Jesuit martyrs and the women killed in El Salvador are:
* Father Ignacio Ellacuria, a 59-year old Jesuit Priest, a Spanish-born rector of the Central American University,
* Father Ignacio Martin-Bero, a 50-year old Jesuit Priest, a Spanich-born Salvadorian citizen and vice-rector of the Central American Univerrsity,
* Father Segundo Montes, a 56-year old Jesuit Priest who was a Spanish-born sociology professor at the Central American University who did extensive work on Salvadorian refugees in the United States,
* Father Armando Lopez, a 53-year old Jesuit Priest, a Spanish-born philosophy professor at the Central American University,
* Father Juaquin Lopez y Lopez, a 71-year old Jesuit Priest, a Salvadorian-born who was director of a center for humanitarian assistance affiliated with the Central American University,
* Juan Ramon Moreno, a 56-year old Jesuit Priest, Spanish-born, who was director of two Central American University-related programs,
* Julia Elba Ramos, a 42-year old cook, and
* Cecilia Ramos, Julia Elba Ramos' daughter who was 15-years old.
The Ecumenical ministry says the Statue of Liberty reminds us that the United States was created by successive waves of immigration: all of us arrived as part of one wave or another. The United States of America has been formed by people fleeing misery, oppression and poverty in their homeland. Those same factors drive immigration today.
Now, however, we are faced with another time of great upheaval about immigration. With the recent failure on the part of Congress to pass immigration reform, the status of 10-12 million undocumented persons in the United States is in greater jeopardy. The July raid at Portland’s Del Monte plant brings the trouble close to home and makes evident the vulnerability of undocumented people who are our neighbors and friends. Their fears and concerns are real; their future, uncertain.
Faith Community Responds to Plight of Immigrants in our MidstSalem-News.com