South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, January 2, 1987 Page: 1 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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Catholic
Vol. XXI, No. 46 Serving the 314,812 Catholics in the Diocese of Corpus Christi January 2, 1987
Family is focus of National Migration Week events
By Rachelle Parry Ramon
STC editor
CORPUS CHRISTI—A special workshop and a
Mass are among the local observances of National
Migration Week, Jan. 5-10. The theme chosen by
Pope John Paul II for this year’s observance is “The
Condition of the Family in Human Migration.”
Every year the Committee on Migration and
Tourism of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops sets aside one week to focus upon the special
pastoral needs of “our people on the move,” explain-
ed Bishop Rene H. Gracida, a former chairman of
that committee.
“These persons include immigrants, un-
documented workers, refugees, seasonal and migrant
farmworkers (and) seamen, airline personnel, car-
nival workers and students studying away from
home,” noted the bishop.
This year’s theme, he continued in a Dec. 26 letter
to priests, “focuses our attention on how the Church
serves as a sacrament of salvation for all people."
Local observances include an immigration seminar
sponsored by Catholic Social Services and designed
to explore applications of the new immigration
reform law. It will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Thurs-
day, Jan. 8 at the Corpus Christi Cathedral
auditorium.
Priests, parishioners and any persons interested in
the new law arc invited to the free seminar, which
will be held in Spanish and English. Topics to be
discussed include amnesty, employer sanctions, anti-
discrimination provisions, responsibilities of illegal
aliens and of the Church, temporary agricultural
workers and impact on South Texas.
Scheduled to speak are Isela Sanchez of Catholic
Social Services’ Immigration Program; local at-
torneys Sandra Watts and Bill Whittle; Norma Can-
tu of MALDEF; and Roman Ramos.
Later that evening at 7, Bishop Gracida will
celebrate the Eucharistic Liturgy in the cathedral,
The time-honored tradition of Posadas il-
lustrates our need to open our hearts to
where “we will place the realities of the family at the
center of our prayers to God, and honor the presence
of the different cultures” of people in this diocese
The Mass will be multi-lingual, with families in
their native dress representing different nationalities,
said Father Vincent Albano, Society of Our Lady of
the Most Holy Trinity, diocesan coordinator of Na-
tional Migration Week.
After the Mass, music and entertainment
representing different cultures are scheduled to be
present-day migrant families who are In need
of shelter. <NC photo)
held in the auditorium, said Father Albano.
In his letter, Bishop Gracida encouraged priests
and their parishioners who arc unable to attend these
diocesan events to hold their own celebrations.
The priests will be receiving special materials to help
them coordinate their own events.
National and local observances of Migration Week
allow parishes to really become aware of migrant per-
See Family, page 3
Team ministers to migrant farm workers
Father Hai-Nguyen to teach
Pastoral Institute course
Page 3
Diocese’s 75th anniversary
celebration set March 22
Page 5
The year in religion seen
month-by-month
Page 6
By Luis O. Cavazos
STC correspondent
SKIDMORE—Parishes across the diocese should
join in the commemoration of National Migration
Week, Jan. 5-10, in recognizing the presence of their
migrant parishioners and all people on the move.
These include undocumented workers and refugees
who are hidden and often strangers in the very com-
munities and parishes in which they reside.
“Welcome the stranger as you would welcome
Christ in your midst,” said Father Vincent Albano,
SLT, parochial vicar of Immaculate Conception
Church and director of the diocesan Ministry to the
Migrant Farm Worker.
Father Albano said in a recent interview that
government statistics show that about 15,000
migrants live in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, and
about 85 to 90 percent are Hispanic.
Father Albano, who is a member of the Society of
Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, said that the
society forms ecclesiastical teams of priests, deacons,
nuns and lay people for specialized ministries in the
areas of greatest need. Father Albano and his teams
special ministry is to the migrant farm worker
Team members include JSLT Sisters Mary
Carmen Sandoval, Maria de Jesus Cantu, Maria
Veronica Cantu, Maria Elena Colay and Maria del
Rosario Murallcs, Josephine Sears (a laywoman) and
Deacon Francis Hohenadle, who assists Father
Michael Montoya, SLT, Immaculate Conception
pastor, in caring for the parish when team members
leave.
Migrants journey to different parts of the country
each year, depending on where they can find jobs.
They travel across the country, with the team follow-
ing them to such states as Colorado, Nebraska, Il-
linois and Indiana.
Migrants travel the “path of the migrant stream,”
trying to find some type of agricultural work, like
stoop labor, field and factory work, said Father
Albano.
Migrants usually travel in groups averaging two to
three families per group, he said.
Father Albano pointed out that most migrant farm
workers have to adapt to various hard living condi-
tions, one of which is housing. “There might be
2,500 people in a particular area living in little huts,"
he said, adding that others are less fortunate, such as
those sleeping in their cars and out in the fields.
“There is a housing shortage for migrant farm
workers in many areas,” he said. “Many times, an
eight-member family lives in a one-room house with
no indoor plumbing."
See Farm workers, page 3
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Freeman, Robert E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, January 2, 1987, newspaper, January 2, 1987; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840609/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .