North American Methodists build bridges on immigration
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A UMNS file photo by Jay Mallin
Members
of First United Methodist Church, Hyattsville, Md., join demonstrators
on the National Mall in Washington during an April rally for immigrants'
rights.
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| Members
of First United Methodist Church, Hyattsville, Md., join demonstrators
on the National Mall in Washington during a day of protest April 10.
They called for rights and fair treatment of illegal immigrants. Bishops
and others from annual (regional) conferences north and south of the
U.S.-Mexican border met Dec. 1-2 in Tucson, Ariz., to formalize what
will be called the Methodist Border Mission Network. United Methodist
general agencies are stepping up their collective attention to U.S.
immigration policy and legislation. A UMNS file photo by Jay Mallin.
Photo #061386. Accompanies UMNS story #702. 12/7/06 |
Dec. 7, 2006
By Elliott Wright*
TUCSON, Ariz. (UMNS) -- Concern for people migrating across political
borders is motivating increasing mission collaboration between The
United Methodist Church in the United States and the Methodist Church of
Mexico.
Simultaneously, United Methodist general agencies are stepping up their
collective attention to U.S. immigration policy and legislation.
Bishops and others from annual (regional) conferences north and south of
the U.S.-Mexican border met Dec. 1-2 in Tucson to formalize what will
be called the Methodist Border Mission Network. It was the third meeting
of its kind in the last 15 months.
The day before, meeting in Phoenix, representatives from most of the
general agencies and the denomination's Council of Bishops set up an
Interagency Task Force on Immigration, a possibility projected by the
church's legislating General Conference six years ago.
This panel will focus on federal, state and local immigration policy and
on education about immigration issues within the denomination. The
emphasis is on just immigrant policy and comprehensive U.S. immigration
reform legislation.
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A UMNS file photo by Jay Mallin
At
an April rally in Washington, United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño
addresses thousands of protesters calling for fair treatment of illegal
immigrants.
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| United
Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño addresses thousands of protesters
gathered on the National Mall in Washington during a day of protest
April 10. The protests, held simultaneously in cities around the United
States, called for fair treatment of illegal immigrants. Bishops and
others from annual (regional) conferences north and south of the
U.S.-Mexican border met Dec. 1-2 in Tucson, Ariz., to formalize what
will be called the Methodist Border Mission Network. United Methodist
general agencies are stepping up their collective attention to U.S.
immigration policy and legislation. A UMNS file photo by Jay Mallin.
Photo #061387. Accompanies UMNS story #702. 12/7/06 |
Bishop Minerva Carcaño of Phoenix convened the interagency group as
chairperson of an immigration committee of the Council of Bishops. In
addition, as host bishop, she presided at the meeting that set up the
border mission group. Most of the participants in the interagency group
also attended the Tucson sessions to make presentations on existing
programs dealing with immigrants.
Cooperative work between U.S.-Mexican border conferences is not new, but
it has taken on new urgency as, acting under current laws, the United
States has slowed the flow of undocumented people moving north from
Mexico and Central America. Those who do cross are often in dire need of
human necessities. More and more people are being stranded along the
southern border, and increasing numbers are being jailed or deported by
the United States with no resources to return to their places of origin.
Bishops or their delegates from three Mexican and four U.S. annual
conferences began meeting in 2005 to consider mutual concerns related to
immigration. The series of meetings were made possible by a grant from
the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Bishop Joel N. Martínez
of San Antonio, the board's president, has strongly promoted the
initiative.
World without borders
The new bi-national group envisions a time when God's people engage in
mission in a world without borders. Its mission is to "manifest our
Wesleyan heritage in cross border ministries through mutually empowering
collaboration between the Methodist Church of Mexico and The United
Methodist Church."
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Bishop Joel Martinez |
"This new border mission network will begin with the acute matter of
immigration, but we want to anticipate an expanded agenda in the
future," Martínez said.
He noted that his conference and others along the northern border have
sustained relations with corresponding Mexican Methodist conferences to
the south. United Methodist Volunteers in Mission form one of the major
means of interaction.
The Rev. Felipe Ruiz, who heads the immigration ministry of the Mexican
church, said that 82 percent of the people crossing the border into the
United States are from Mexico, with Hondurans, Salvadorians and
Brazilians forming the next largest groups.
Saving lives
A major concern at both the border consultation and the interagency
meeting was how the churches serve acute human needs and work to prevent
the loss of life among migrants. Both gatherings acknowledge that
migration -- the movement of people -- is a global reality challenging
the churches.
Considerable attention in Tucson focused on the different ways in which
the U.S. and Mexican churches experience the current immigration
situation.
In the United States, the concern is that of hospitality and life-saving
services. In Mexico, the ministry opportunities arise in relation to
three groups: Central Americans passing through on the way to the
border, the concentration of hopeful crossers along the border, and
those being deported by the United States. Many people are being
assisted by the Methodist Aid Center for Migrants, sponsored by the
church in Mexico.
700-mile wall
Last September, the Council of Bishops of the Methodist Church of Mexico
adopted a resolution questioning certain aspects of current U.S.
immigration policy. The action questioned the wisdom of the proposal to
build a wall along 700 miles of the 2,000-mile border. Such a wall, the
bishops said, "will result in more immigrants dying in their attempt to
enter the USA." Directors of the Board of Global Ministries endorsed
this perspective in a resolution passed in October.
Bishop Milton Velasco Legorreta of Chihuahua and Bishop Jaime Vazquez
Olmeda of San Ysidro took part in the Tucson deliberations. United
Methodists were represented by the Desert Southwest, Southwest Texas,
California-Pacific and New Mexico Annual conferences.
United Methodist agencies and organizations taking part in the
Interagency Task Force on Immigration include the Council of Bishops;
Board of Church and Society; Board of Discipleship; Board of Global
Ministries and its United Methodist Committee on Relief and Women's
Division; Commission on Religion and Race; Commission on Christian Unity
and Interreligious Concerns; General Council on Finance and
Administration; and the National Plan for Hispanic and Latino
Ministries.
Programs highlighted included UMCOR's Justice for Our Neighbors, which
sponsors 22 congregation-based legal clinics for immigrants in the
United States, and the educational work of United Methodist Women on
migration-related concerns.
*Wright is the information officer of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Board of Global Ministries
Justice for our Neighbors
Immigration
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