ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends,

It is a great joy to be able to celebrate Mass with you today. In just a few short weeks, on Easter Sunday, our Archdiocese will begin a year-long celebration of the 200th anniversary of our creation as a diocese. Our history as the Catholic Church of Philadelphia is so intertwined with the story of immigration to our country. It has been a beautiful history, full of joys, but also not without its share of sorrows. In fact, one of the parishes of which Father Ayres is now administrator, Saint Michael’s, was one of the churches burned down in anti-immigrant riots in our city in 1844. Yet we have, throughout these 200 years, continuously been blessed by new waves of immigrants from throughout the world. It is most appropriate, therefore, that one of the final celebrations of our anniversary will be next year’s Migration Mass.

I am most grateful to Bishop Maginnis for his presence today and for his assistance to me in working with the Office for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees so that I can fulfill my duty to provide ministry to the diverse peoples of the Archdiocese. I also thank my brother priests who have joined together today for this celebration, especially Father Ayres and all those who directly serve the immigrant communities of the Archdiocese. In particular, I thank those priests who have come from other countries in order to serve the immigrants of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and I ask you to express my thanks to your bishops and religious superiors.

Dear brothers and sisters: it is important that we continue to promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life! We must pray that more young people will respond to God’s call to serve Him in these special ways. We must also personally encourage our families and our communities to be generous in supporting these vocations. Last year I was blessed to ordain Father Ik-joon Choi, the first Korean priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. There are still many cultures represented here today who are waiting for their ‘first’ priest to be ordained for the Archdiocese. But there is a need for us all to increase our prayer and work for promoting vocations.

We must also continue our work to promote a fair and comprehensive immigration reform in our country, one that offers earned legalization for those currently here illegally, eliminates backlogs in the family immigration systems, and creates a sufficient number of guest-worker visas to meet the economic demands of the United States. I commend the work of Catholic Social Services particularly in working to serve the victims of human trafficking, which is nothing other than modern-day slavery. We must continue to let our elected officials know that our highly defective immigration system must be repaired now, and in a way which reflects true compassionate love.
As we leave here today, may we always remember that although we come from so many places, although we praise God in so many languages, we are all members of the same family of God and we all enjoy the citizenship of His kingdom.