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Clergy Breakfasts​ Come at a Crucial Time

September 27, 2015 by Jennie Belle, Former Immigration and Farmworkers Director

Pope Francis has been an outspoken leader about the need to welcome immigrants and refugees in our communities. This past Thursday, he continued his positive track record of expressing compassion for immigrants and refugees when he addressed Congress. He invoked the Golden Rule held by many faith traditions – do unto others as we would have them do unto us. He said, “Thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children?” In other words, we are all children of God, regardless of our country of origin, and immigrants and refugees deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

The Pope’s visit and influence on issues of immigration and family unity come at a crucial time. Sixty million people are displaced globally, including more than 10 million Syrian refugees and tens of thousands of immigrant children and families held in detention in the United States — all of whom have fled the violence, crime, and extreme poverty of their home countries. Locally, the North Carolina Senate voted 32-11 to ban counties and municipalities from having “sanctuary city” policies that limit enforcement of immigration laws. If enacted, this bill will make it more difficult for local police and sheriffs to establish the identity of people in our communities, particularly immigrant residents, which will make their jobs harder and more dangerous. I pray that the words of St. Francis will soften the hearts and minds of lawmakers in order to put a halt to this anti-immigrant legislation when the House votes on the bill Monday night. Please consider contacting your local representatives if you feel the same way.

Next week, our annual Clergy Breakfast series on immigration kicks off in Wrightsville Beach with the first of its six stops across the state. This event will have a special focus on refugees, spotlighting speakers from a local missional church with a refugee ministry and representatives from Catholic Charities sharing stories about their work with local immigrants. From there we continue to Fayetteville, Morganton, Weaverville, Cary, and Henderson. Please consider attending one of these important events. It is crucial that faith leaders and people of faith help to put a halt to anti-immigrant legislation and push back against the anti-immigrant rhetoric that has dominated this election cycle. This can only be done through education and cooperation. We need to work together and use the connections across our denominations to change the hearts and minds of our lawmakers.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured Tagged With: Action Alert, Equality & Reconciliation, Farmworkers, Good Government, Human Rights, Immigration, Interfaith, N.C. General Assembly, Race/Ethnicity, Religion & Society

About Jennie Belle, Former Immigration and Farmworkers Director

Jennie was born and raised in Savannah, GA. She moved to Texas for her undergraduate education at Rice University, during which time she studied in Mexico, Peru and Argentina and participated in service projects in Central America. After graduation she moved to Spain for a year to teach English. Jennie then came to North Carolina for a dual degree MDiv/MSW graduate program at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill where her work focused on advocating for farmworkers and organizing churches for social justice. Recently graduated, Jennie is excited to use these skills in her role at the Council of Churches as she works to help improve conditions for immigrants and farmworkers in the state.

Jennie lives in Durham and attends First Presbyterian Church. In her free time she enjoys dancing, distance running, traveling, walking her dog, and planning her upcoming wedding. Jennie can be reached at: jennie@ncchurches.org.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. William L. Bingham says

    September 30, 2015 at 2:13 pm

    Dates & locations for these; particularly the one in Cary?

    Reply
    • Jennie Belle, Program Associate says

      September 30, 2015 at 2:16 pm

      The dates and locations are listed under the Council’s event page. The one in Cary is Oct. 29 at Kirk of Kildaire. Hope you can attend!

      Reply

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