social ministry
Finding Home and Welcome Jesuit Social Research Institute Addresses Migration and Human Rights by Uniting Faith and Action
By Mary Baudouin
S
tate anti-immigrant legislation. Self-deportation. Securing our borders. The Dream Act. Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Amnesty. What do these terms mean to American Catholics? Few current social issues are as contentious as the question of how to deal with refugees and undocumented migrants in the United States. The Jesuit Social Research Institute (JSRI), a collaborative project of the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province and Loyola University New Orleans, is working to dissipate confusion, particularly among Catholics, and advocating that immigrants are treated with fairness and justice as called for by the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Pope Benedict XVI recently upheld Church teachings on immigration when he urged Christian communities to “pay special attention to migrant workers and their families by accompanying them with prayer, solidarity and Christian charity … as well as by fostering new political, economic and social planning that promotes respect for safeguarding of the family, access to dignified
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Winter-Spring 2012
housing, to work and to welfare.” (“Migration and the New Evangelization,” September 21, 2011) The institute was established in 2007 to address the social concerns of immigration, poverty and race in southern states that border the Gulf of Mexico—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Led by former New Orleans provincial, Fr. Fred Kammer, JSRI applies Catholic social teaching to its research and education and in its action and advocacy work. The institute’s immigration efforts are guided by Susan Mary Weishar, Ph.D., former director of immigration and refugee services at Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, and are focused on opposing unjust anti-immigrant legislation, protecting migrants in detention centers and educating people, particularly Catholics, about issues surrounding migration. “Until Congress has the courage and will to take on comprehensive immigration reform, it appears that considerable time and energy will be needed at the state and local level to oppose anti-immigrant legislation,” she says. “Support by a broad base of Catholic voters