A few months ago a mother and father with two children arrived at the door of Casa Juan Diego unexpectedly–distressed, homeless, with very few clothes or possessions. I got the mother and children settled and comfortable in a room at our women’s house and the husband went to our men’s center. I did not see… continue reading
Do We Help People Who Shouldn’t Be Here? Works of Mercy and Immigrants
October 1, 2010 by
Why Help People Who Shouldn’t Be Here? At Casa Juan Diego we do not help people who shouldn’t be here. At Casa Juan Diego we simply practice the Works of Mercy: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick and imprisoned. Biblical Imperative The Bible says… continue reading
The King of Kings, the Migrant of Migrants: Do Not Fear, Do Not Mistreat the Migrant
October 1, 2010 by
From Archbishop Wenski’s (Archbishop of Miami) homily on immigration reform at a welcome Mass upon his arrival in the Archdiocese, for the myriad ethnic com-munities of Miami. Our world today is increasingly globalized: Pope Benedict XVI said that globalization has made us all neighbors but it has not made us brothers. Part of the globalization… continue reading
Health Care Reform? Help Needed With Health Care for Immigrants
July 1, 2010 by
No matter where your ideas may fall on the passage of the new health care legislation, the reality is that there will still be many who will have great difficulty accessing health care. Immigrants, even some legal immigrants, are specifically excluded. We need your help to continue medical services in our clinics. The clinics of… continue reading
More Deportations Than Ever
July 1, 2010 by
Many hoped there might be improvements for immigrants under the leadership of the new Obama administration. Not so! We have noticed a marked increase in reports and anecdotal evidence in the Houston area regarding deportations. We also get many calls from mothers of small children and pregnant women about the deportations of their husbands. Now… continue reading
The Secret Jails of Homeland Security: ICE Disappears People and Families and Lawyers Cannot Find Them
April 1, 2010 by
At Casa Juan Diego we receive calls from as far away as Central America from families of immigrants who are detained by U. S. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), calls from wives or husbands or parents who are desperate to find their loved ones. We try to help, and we make calls and give out… continue reading
A Former Catholic Worker, Now a Teacher, Shares with Students How the Infancy Narratives Relate to Immigrants’ Stories
February 1, 2010 by
Hey, Mark and Louise! Just wanted to check in and once again thank you for everything you and all of the Catholic Workers do there at Casa Juan Diego. I cherish the time I spent serving there, and in new ways I am constantly coming to find how what I learned there is being lived… continue reading
Aliens and the Bible: Evangelical Protestant Approaches to the Undocumented
February 1, 2010 by
The author is a Catholic Worker at Casa Juan Diego, on sabbatical leave from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible (2008) by M. Daniel Carroll R. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 174 pp., $16.99 (paper) The Immigration Crisis: Immigrants, Aliens, and the Bible (2009) by James… continue reading
Immigration Reform Can Wait No Longer
December 1, 2009 by
In September of 2009, Most Rev. Jose H. Gomez, Archbishop of San Antonio, Texas led a delegation of Hispanic Bishops to speak to the Congress in Washington, D.C. about the urgency of immigration reform. This article was published in the San Antonio Archdiocesan paper, Today’s Catholic. The current Congress, certainly has its hands full trying to… continue reading
Government Detention Center for Children and Families Closing: The End of the T. Don Hutto Center for Families
October 1, 2009 by
There is rejoicing in Texas because the government has announced the closing of the T. Don Hutto For-Profit Family Jail for Immigrants. Protests and lawsuits against the privatized 512-bed detention center run for the government by the Corrections Corporation of America focused on its cruel treatment of children who were imprisoned there in substandard living… continue reading
