Bishop Walsh offers encouragement, advice to immigrants

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Barb Arland-Fye
Bishop Dennis Walsh speaks after presiding at Mass Dec. 20 at the Iowa City Catholic Worker House on Sycamore Street in Iowa City.

By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger

IOWA CITY — Escalating violence in Colombia forced Yirleny Rivera Castro, her husband and two daughters to flee their homeland. They survived the dangerous, grueling journey with hopes of receiving asylum in the U.S. and found refuge 10 months ago at the Iowa City Catholic Worker House.

Ferris

“Thanks to the Catholic Worker, we have a roof over our head and food to eat,” she told a gathering of around 75 immigrants, supporters, Bishop Dennis Walsh and Deacon Kent Ferris. She and her husband have obtained work permits. “We can’t go back to Colombia,” she said. “We will be killed if we go back to Colombia.”

Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2023 states, “Abuse by armed groups, limited access to justice, and high levels of poverty, especially among Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, remain serious human rights concerns in Colombia” (https://tinyurl.com/ 2f6ba6m6).

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Castro spoke to the gathering at the Iowa City Catholic Worker House on Sycamore Street following Mass Dec. 20, with Bishop Walsh presiding in Spanish and Deacon Ferris assisting. Afterwards, while balancing plates of food on their laps, the participants listened to the stories of immigrants who fled their homelands and now fear for their future because of the threat of mass deportation when the next administration takes office Jan. 20.

Bishop Walsh acknowledged their fear and uncertainty in his homily while emphasizing the hope that comes with faith and trust in God, as Mary gave witness to when she said yes to God’s call for her in salvation history.

Trust God

“She risked everything because she trusted in the Lord, that the Lord would always be with her, that the Lord would always be present to her,” Bishop Walsh said. “As Catholics we are hopelessly optimistic” even though “we know we have to go through a lot of things. We face ridicule. We face persecution. We face all of those things,” he continued, because “we know that the Kingdom of God is waiting to break forth in fullness all around us.”

 Roberto Jaime Betancourth fled Honduras with his son, Owen, who was 9 at the time. They were turned away from the border in 2021 because of Title 42, a COVID-19 public health restriction (lifted in 2023). “We worked with the ACLU to get them an exemption since Jaime was a single dad and Owen was a vulnerable child,” David Goodner, a co-founder of the Iowa City Catholic Worker, told The Catholic Messenger. Co-founder Emily Sinnwell translated the immigrants’ stories as they spoke.

Barb Arland-Fye
Bishop Dennis Walsh presides at Mass Dec. 20 at the Iowa City Catholic Worker House on Sycamore Street in Iowa City.

 Betancourth leaned into Scripture to assure Owen that God would work a miracle for them. That miracle was entry to the U.S. and the support of the Iowa City Catholic Worker. “I realized God had given me more than I asked for,” said Betancourth, who works in construction. Now, “we are scared. My son is asking me, ‘Are we going to be deported?’”

Other immigrants spoke, including Eduardo Ruiz, who said he was a police officer in Colombia who fled from his homeland two months ago with his wife and other family members. He suffered gunshot wounds on the job and feared for his life.

Iowa City Catholic Worker volunteers also spoke, including Ann Houlahan, a retired nurse and member of St. Thomas More Parish in Coralville. She provides “rides to asylum-seekers going to Chicago for passports, Omaha for immigration court, Des Moines for fingerprinting, the final step to getting a work permit, and Cedar Rapids for immigration accompaniments, and some medical visits.”

In June, she took an immigrant and his 18-year-old son, a new high school graduate, to Cedar Rapids for the father’s required check-in. She said immigration authorities took the hard-working, law-abiding, church-going parent to the Linn County Jail without the benefit of saying goodbye to his son. “It was heartbreaking.” She asked Bishop Walsh, “Bishop, what moves you to help our immigrant brothers and sisters?”

Take stories to parishes

“Personal stories are very important,” Bishop Walsh responded. He told of his work as a young priest with the poor in the inner city on the East Coast and before that in Puerto Rico. “That changed a whole world view for me,” the bishop said.

Maria Ayala, a naturalized citizen from Mexico who attends St. Joseph Parish in Columbus Junction, asked Bishop Walsh, “What can you do for our brothers and sisters who are undocumented?”

The bishop advised gathering legal resources and pursing justice through the judiciary because the Iowa Legislature has passed a deportation law that he thinks is unenforceable. He re-emphasized the importance of getting out immigrants’ stories. “It’s hard to dislike someone once you hear their stories,” he said. “You need to take the stories to the people in the parishes.”

Each year in February, Iowa’s bishops visit the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, which is an opportunity to share their views with legislators. On Nov. 19, Bishop Walsh and his fellow Iowa bishops released a letter addressed to “our dear migrant brothers and sisters in Christ.” The letter states, “As your bishops, we will advocate for your just treatment and dignity within the framework of the law.”

Iowa City Catholic Worker volunteer Jane Noble-Davis talked about the importance of practicing the Two Feet of Love in Action, a term coined by the late diocesan priest, Msgr. Marvin Mottet. One foot addresses the root causes of problems that affect people and the other foot addresses, short-term, emergency help. She asked Bishop Walsh to share “how you envision your new diocese walking with Two Feet of Love in Action.”

Bishop Walsh spoke of the importance and effectiveness of organizing parishes in the effort to bring about legislative change. He said he witnessed the effectiveness of organizing in the Bronx, where “people of faith came together to put pressure on the legislature.” The bishop added, “Unjust policies need to be confronted.”


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