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 WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).

The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015.

"If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.

Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, including U.S. support for Mexican interdiction efforts which are intercepting children and families in Mexico and sending them back to danger, in violation of international law.

Bishop Seitz recommended an end to these interdictions and the introduction of a regional system which would screen children and families for asylum in Mexico and other parts of the region. He also called for Congress to approve and increase a $1 billion aid package proposed by the Administration.

"If we export enforcement," Bishop Seitz said, "we also must export protection."

Bishop Seitz recalled the words of Pope Francis before Congress in September, when he invoked the golden rule in guiding our nation's actions toward those seeking safety in our land.

Quoting the Holy Father, Bishop Seitz repeated to the committee, "'The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.'"

"Mr. Chairman, I pray that time, and history, will conclude that we honored this rule in meeting this humanitarian challenge," Bishop Seitz concluded.

Bishop Seitz' testimony can be found at http://www.usccb.org//about/migration-policy/congressional-testimony/upload/seitz-ongoing-migration.pdf

Keywords: Bishop Mark J. Seitz, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Congress, Senate, Committee on Migration, migration, unaccompanied children, violence, Pope Francis
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(Vatican Radio) Each year at Christmas, Vatican Radio invites Church leaders from around the world to help our listeners get into the spirit of the season. Here are greetings and best wishes at Christmastide for all our listeners from the International Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service here in Rome, Fr. Thomas Smolich, SJ.

Click below to hear Christmas greetings from JRS International's Director, Fr. Tom Smolich, SJ

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(Vatican Radio) Thousands of young singers from across the globe are gathered in Rome for the 40th International Congress of Pueri Cantores.

The International Federation of Pueri Cantores, founded in the twentieth century, is founded on the deep ancient Christian conviction that singing is an instrument that can be used to worship God, a tool with which to preach the Gospel and a means of spiritual and moral development.

The six-day festival which sees youth choirs from different nations joining together to sing the Glory and Peace of God culminates on January 1 with some of them participating in New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The motto of the Congress this year is “Cantate spem vestram! Sing out your hope!” It expresses encouragement to the young singers as well as the spiritual wealth young people represent throughout the world.
 
The image chosen for the festival logo is a stylized design of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican colours: yellow and white.

The Basilica, as if drawn by a child’s hand, is unfinished symbolizing children and youth who grow and are transformed. The lines of the design also develop and transform into the neumes of the “Hallelujah” meaning that when Pueri Cantores start to sing a beautiful harmony appears.

The Pueri Cantores coat-of-arms is inscribed within the contours of the Basilica, but slightly extends beyond illustrating the fact that while the Pueri Cantores movement serves the liturgy of the Church, it also aims to evangelize those who are outside of the Church.

The choirs participating in the festival are scheduled to sing in some of Rome’s most beautiful Churches and Basilicas during liturgical celebrations.

All singers will be received in audience by Pope Francis on Thursday, December 31.
  

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Since his abduction in Syria on Dec. 23 there is no news about the fate of Fr. Dhiya Azziz, a Franciscan of Iraqi origins, parish priest of Yacoubieh in Syria.  A Dec 26 statement by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land said that "all traces of the religious were lost on the morning of December 23 last" when he left Lattakia on board a taxi heading for Yacoubieh, via Hama.  The 41-year old priest was on his way back to his parish for Christmas with his faithful, after a brief trip to Turkey to visit his family, that had taken refuge across the Turkish border after the arrival of the Islamic State (IS) rebels in Karakosh, in Iraq, his homeland.  Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land told Vatican Radio there have been no updates on the 41-year old priest since Christmas Eve.  He said perhaps some army or rebel group have abducted him, and “God forbid he is killed”.

Extremist groups or criminal gangs are suspected to be behind kidnapping, who use ransom money to fuel their terrorist network.  Fr. Pizzaballa appealed to anyone who has information on the case to come forward, so they can try and salvage Fr. Azziz and his fellow travellers. 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Ettore Ferrari, EPA

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Families need to open their doors to God and his love or they will harbor an individualism that endangers peace and joy, Pope Francis said on the feast of the Holy Family.

Recognizing and encouraging the importance of strong and unified families is especially needed today when "the family is subjected to misunderstanding and difficulties of various kinds, which weaken it," he said Dec. 27 before praying the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Marking the Jubilee of Families during the Holy Year of Mercy, the pope dedicated a morning Mass and his noon Angelus address to the example and witness of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

The day's Gospel reading "invites families to welcome the light of hope originating from the house of Nazareth," he said in remarks before the Angelus.

The Holy Family demonstrates what God desires for all families -- that they be "a special community of life and love," he said.

Mary and Joseph teach men and women today to welcome children as a gift of God, to raise them in a way that cooperates with God's divine plan, and to give "the world, with every child, a new smile."

"The true joy that's experienced in the family isn't something random or accidental. It is a joy that is the result of the deep harmony between people, who savor the beauty of being together, of supporting each other on life's journey," he said.

That joy also is always rooted in "God's presence, his welcoming love, mercy and patience toward everyone. If one doesn't open the door of the family to God's presence and his love, the family loses harmony, individualism prevails and joy is extinguished," he said.

The pope prayed that the Holy Family protect the world's families so that they may live in "serenity and joy, justice and peace."

Earlier in the day, the pope celebrated a special Mass in St. Peter's Basilica dedicated to families.

In his homily, he said the Holy Family show the importance of prayer, sacred Scripture, worship and praising God together as a family.

The pope suggested mothers and fathers bless their children at the start and end of each day, by making the sign of the cross on their children's foreheads like they did at their baptism. "Bless them, that is, entrust them to the Lord," he said, "so that he can be their protection and support throughout the day."

It's also important families pray before meals, thanking God "for these gifts and to learn how to share what we have received with those in greater need."

Family life is a shared journey of ups and downs, and mistakes can become occasions for forgiveness and growth, the pope said.

"In the Year of Mercy, every Christian family can become a privileged place on this pilgrimage for experiencing the joy of forgiveness," he said.

"Forgiveness is the essence of the love which can understand the mistakes and mend them," he said. In fact, "how miserable we would be if God did not forgive us."

That is why people learn how to forgive starting in the family, he said, because it is in the family that people can be sure they are understood and supported no matter what mistakes are made.

"Let us not lose confidence in the family," he said, since it is "beautiful when we can always open our hearts to one another, and hide nothing. Where there is love, there is also understanding and forgiveness."

Pope Francis also focused on the importance of forgiveness the previous day, Dec. 26, the feast of St. Stephen, who is remembered as the first Christian martyr.

Like Christ forgave those who crucified him, Stephen forgave those who stoned him to death, the pope said before reciting the Angelus.

A true witness of Christ is someone who acts just like Jesus -- someone "who prays, loves, gives, but above all who forgives, which, just like the word says, is the highest expression of giving."

"If we want to grow in the faith, first and foremost, it's necessary to receive God's forgiveness; to encounter the father, who is ready to forgive everything and always."

"We must never tire of asking for divine forgiveness because only when we are forgiven, when we feel forgiven, we learn to forgive."

It's not easy to imitate Christ and forgive the small or significant wrongs and injustices experienced in life, the pope said. But like Christ and St. Stephen, it can be done starting with prayer and entrusting the person who has done wrong to God's mercy, he said.

"One then discovers that this internal struggle to forgive is cleansed of evil and that prayer and love free us from the internal chains of rancor."

The pope said, "It is so terrible to live with rancor" so people should use every day as an opportunity to "practice forgiveness." That way people will become more merciful and "we will overcome evil with good, transforming hatred into love" and making the world more pure.

The pope also asked people pray for all those being persecuted for their faith -- "our many martyrs of today" who are "unfortunately very many."

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Follow Glatz on Twitter: @CarolGlatz.

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