Diocese Celebrates Tradition of Welcoming Immigrants

By Linda Busetti

Representatives carried flags and banners of 22 ethnic apostolates into St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Flatlands, for the 36th diocesan celebration of Migration Day on Sept. 15, as the choir sang, “All Are Welcome.”

Linda Busetti and Ed Wilkinson Photos 

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, along with retired Bishop Thomas V. Daily, Msgr. Ronald Marino, Vicar for Migrant and Ethnic Apostolates, and priests of the diocese, who concelebrated Mass, reviewed the procession.

“No diocese in the world has the diversity we do,” said Dave Ali, assistant director of the Catholic Migration Office. This includes people from about 175 nations.

Two choirs – from the Filipino Apostolate and from the Pakistani Apostolate in St. Ann’s, Flushing – combined to provide the music.

Readings in Different Languages

The First Reading from Deuteronomy was proclaimed in Indonesian and the Second Reading from St. Paul to the Hebrews was read in Spanish. The Gospel was proclaimed in Engish.

In his homily on the Sermon on the Mount, Bishop DiMarzio, applied the Beatitudes to the situation that refugees, migrants and immigrants find themselves in when coming to a new land. The bishop spoke about what makes people happy, saying, “the happiness Jesus promised is the truest happiness.”

He said that the greatest poverty comes when people feel unloved. “You are not poor, because you are loved,” he assured them.

Away from Loved Ones

Bishop DiMarzio empathized with being far from loved ones when there is a death in the family overseas, recalling his own grandfather’s sorrow when his mother, who he had not seen in years, died in Italy.

“We must be the people God wants us to be wherever we are,” Bishop DiMarzio said.

The bishop expressed disappointment at the defeat of recent immigration legislation in Congress, noting that 10,000 e-mails sent in favor were outweighed by a million against.

After the bishop’s homily, 22 representatives, in traditional costume, came up to the left of the sanctuary. They took turns reading their petitions, first on behalf of the Church, Pope Benedict XVI and Bishop DiMarzio in Arabic, Croatian, and Creole respectively. Then for Msgr. Ronald Marino and the staff of the Catholic Migration Office in Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda, that they “may continue to serve effectively the needs of immigrants in their ministry.”

Prayers were offered in Korean, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Indonesian, Gaelic and Vietnamese for all who work for charity and justice for immigrants.

A petition in Igbo, the language of Nigeria, was offered, “that the hearts and minds of those fanning the flames of fear and discrimination against the undocumented may be touched with divine compassion.”

For consolation to refugees, “the strangers” among us, petitions went up in Malayalam, a tongue of South India, as well as in Lithuanian, Czech, and Urdu, the Pakistani tongue. A desire for an increase in vocations was voiced in Cantonese.

That the United States should be an example to the world of how races and cultures can “live together in peace,” was the plea in Tagalog.

A representative of the Polish Apostolate petitioned, “For an end to the violence and poverty that displaces so many people from homes and homelands.” And in Fanti, the language of Ghana, were prayers for all who “accept the stranger in our midst with open hearts and minds.”

“For unaccompanied migrant children, that they may be protected from all harm and be reunited with loving families,” was the petition in Mandarin.

Finally, in English came the prayer, “For our community gathered here today to celebrate our unity under the Lord and His mother, Mary; that we may come to greater understanding and acceptance of our differences.”

Plea for Vocations

At the conclusion of Mass, after thanking everyone for coming, Msgr. Marino called for an increase of vocations from within the apostolates.

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