Together on the Journey: A Weekly Word from Archbishop Hebda
Yesterday evening, I celebrated our annual Archdiocesan Solidarity Mass, which was held this year at the Cathedral of St. Paul. Each year, we come together at the Pope’s request to mark the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. This annual celebration is always one of my favorites, filled with music and readings in various languages, dance, cultural attire, and a sense of the beautiful diversity that appropriately exists within our Church (“Catholic,” after all, means “universal”).
This year’s celebration took on renewed meaning, as we recalled the tensions that so many of our brothers and sisters experienced last winter during Operation Metro Surge. Earlier in the afternoon, I had listened to the testimonies of a number of our faithful at a gathering organized by Unidos at St. Thomas More, who were able to speak about their experience earlier this year and the impact that it had on their families and parishes. There was also an excellent presentation on the bedrock principles of Catholic Social Teaching and what it means for us as Catholics to believe in the dignity of each human life.
Our Archdiocese has always been a Church of immigrants. That was brought home to me at a delightful celebration of the 150th anniversary of Assumption in Richfield on Saturday evening. The first reading was proclaimed in German, the language that was spoken by the first members of Assumption. While the number of German speakers in Richfield has greatly declined, I heard a great deal of Spanish, both in the Church and on the festival grounds. While the composition of our immigrant communities has changed, their contribution remains great.
That was apparent at St. Gabriel in Hopkins as well, where I celebrated two Masses this weekend in honor of the anticipated Solemnity of the Archangels. While both the English and Spanish Masses were very well attended, it was eye-opening for me that the Spanish Mass was even better attended than the English Mass (in spite of my poor Spanish).
While the number of Latin American immigrants continues to grow, we also have a growing number of faithful from Asia and Africa—and they bring great energy to our Archdiocese and parishes. That was very apparent at the Mass at the Cathedral. I trust that their joy will attract many to our Church. I was intrigued to meet a mother and son from the Cameroonian choir who told me that they are actually Haitians but have been made to feel very welcome among the Cameroonians. How Catholic!
In this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Leo turned his attention particularly to children and adolescents forced to leave their homes, many after having experienced unspeakable trauma (not unlike the experience of the infant Jesus, forced to flee with his family to Egypt). The Holy Father calls upon each of us to embrace a shared responsibility: “Even just one of these children calls each one of us, in our personal lives, to open our eyes and heart to a profound listening to his or her story, fears and dreams, overcoming that detachment which reduces the human person to a statistic that does not directly concern us.”
I’m convinced that we can overcome that “detachment” when we embrace the call to see Christ in all of our brothers and sisters, including the immigrants and refugees among us. That’s so much easier when we get to know each other. One of my priest friends has funded his parish’s meal center through a very successful operation called “Labels are for Jars (not for people).” We can get beyond the labels when see Christ in each other.
We know for sure that Our Lord loves all of us, without distinction, with a radical love beyond our wildest imagination. Let us pray that we may find new ways in our Archdiocese to embody that love to others. Please pray as well for our legislators as we continue to encourage them to enact just immigration policies.
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