Immigrants & Refugees

The Catholic Church in the United States is an immigrant Church with a long history of embracing diverse newcomers and providing assistance and pastoral care to immigrants, migrants, refugees, and people on the move.  Our Church has responded to Christ’s call for us to “welcome the stranger among us,” for in this encounter with the immigrant, the migrant, and the refugee in our midst, we encounter Christ.
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Three Basic Principles of Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration

​Although Catholic theology has always promoted human rights rooted in natural law and God's revelation, it was the encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Capital and Labor) in 1891 that developed a systematic presentation of principles of the rights and responsibilities of people. Rerum Novarum commented on the situation of immigrants; in later documents, popes and bishops' conferences have synthesized the Catholic theological tradition to articulate three basic principles on immigration.
  1. People have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families.                                             Every person has an equal right to receive from the earth what is necessary for life—food, clothing, shelter. Moreover, every person has the right to education, medical care, religion, and the expression of one's culture.
  2. A country has the right to regulate its borders and to control immigration; however, refugees and asylum seekers should always be afforded protection.                                                                                                                       Most people migrate because they are desperate and the opportunity for a safe and secure life does not exist in their own land. Although no country has the duty to receive so many immigrants that its own social and economic life are jeopardized, as Americans we should cherish and celebrate the contributions of immigrants and their cultures. However, we should also work to make it unnecessary for people to leave their own land.
  3. A country must regulate its borders with justice and mercy.                                                                                                   A sincere commitment to the needs of all must prevail.  Catholic social teaching must be understood in light of the absolute equality of all people and the commitment to the common good.
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"As Catholics we are called to take concrete measures to overcome the misunderstanding, ignorance, competition, and fear that stand in the way of genuinely welcoming the stranger in our midst and enjoying the communion that is our destiny as Children of God."                                                  
                                                                                                                                                   Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity, A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops

Human Rights Office ~ Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph  ~ 20 West Ninth Street ~ Kansas City, MO 64105 ~ ​(816) 756-1850 ~ francis@diocesekcsj.org