Prayer for Immigrants and Refugees: Beyond December 12

1. Sample Prayers of the Faithful. Please click here to find a variety of intercessions on behalf of migrants and refugees, as well as government officials. These are adapted from materials that our Office of Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) has developed in anticipation of National Migration Week each January. In English and Spanish.
2. Homily Helps. The Justice for Immigrants Campaign (JFI) has developed suggestions for homilists in connection with the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, available at this link: http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/documents/Our-Lady-of-Guadalupe-Homily-Notes-2013_000.pdf 
3. Sample Prayer Service. MRS has developed the enclosed “Prayer Service in Solidarity with Migrants,” again based on National Migration Week materials. The service focuses on the story of Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Please click here for the service in English or in Spanish.
4. Rosaries. MRS has developed a Rosary entitled “Unity in Diversity” that includes prayers for migrants and refugees and is available in both English (http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/documents/scriptural-rosary-eng.pdf) and Spanish (http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/documents/scriptural-rosary-span.pdf). The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) has developed a similar Rosary, though with a more specific focus on Our Lady of Guadalupe, also available in both English (https://cliniclegal.org/sites/default/files/catholic/rosary-english.pdf) and Spanish (https://cliniclegal.org/sites/default/files/catholic/rosary-spanish.pdf).
5. Prayer Cards. In English and Spanish, the prayers and images were developed for National Migration Week in recent years, but we have “rebranded” them for the upcoming National Day of Prayer. Also, MRS has prepared a book of prayer resources for National Migration Week (http://www.usccb.org/about/migration-and-refugee-services/national-migrationweek/upload/Booklet-of-Prayers-2.pdf) that includes three more prayer cards that may be of particular use in connection with the Day of Prayer—for San Juan Diego (December 9), for migrant families, and for migrant children. 
6. Materials for the Narthex / Bulletin Inserts. JFI has prepared a one-page document—English on one side, Spanish on the other—that describes particular actions that the faithful can take on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe to aid in advocacy for migrants and refugees (http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/documents/Activitiesyou-can-do-on-the-Feast-Day-of-Our-Lady-English-and-Spanish_000.pdf). For a broader focus, MRS has prepared a pamphlet to introduce the faithful to the basic principles contained in Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope, the 2003 pastoral letter issued jointly by the bishops of the United States and Mexico. That pamphlet is available in both English (http://www.usccb.org/about/migrationand-refugee-services/national-migration-week/upload/Broch-Eng-15-31-04-2.pdf) and Spanish (http://www.usccb.org/about/migration-and-refugee-services/nationalmigrationweek/upload/Broc-Sp.pdf).

*All the resources are available as a single document, here.

Articles from CNS:

Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles wrote a column for CNS discussing our broken
immigration system: “The sad truth about immigration policy in America today,” he
wrote, is that “our system has been broken for so long, our politicians have failed to act
for so long that the people we are now punishing have become our neighbors.”
https://cnstopstories.com/2016/12/05/a-way-forward-on-immigration/

In response to the growing concern about immigration policy and the plight of our
neighbors following the election, Church leaders are seeking prayers for migrants and
refugees.
https://cnstopstories.com/2016/12/01/usccb-leaders-seek-prayers-for-migrants-refugeeson-
guadalupe-feast/

A recent Mass at the U.S. Mexico border celebrated by the papal nuncio to the United
States highlighted his appeal for unity between peoples.
https://cnstopstories.com/2016/10/24/nuncio-at-border-mass-prays-for-an-end-tobarriers-
that-separate-people/

Also of concern is the plight of refugees internationally, including the plight of
persecuted Christians in the Middle East, who are threatened by extinction.
https://cnstopstories.com/2016/12/06/panel-genocide-wars-indifference-will-makemideast-
christians-extinct/

And finally, a story about the Christian communities in northern Iraq that have become
ghost towns in northern Iraq as the result of the persecutions and ongoing war.
https://cnstopstories.com/2016/12/02/syriac-catholic-patriarch-horrified-after-seeingiraqi-
ghost-towns/