Eucharist Without Borders: Why Arizona?

The National Catholic Reporter, the parent of Celebration, sees the issue of immigration reform as decisive for our country and church. The Tucson conference follows our first immigration conference, A Light to the Nations, held January 2011 in San Antonio. From an urgent justice standpoint, we see effective formation and action by the national Church as crucial to ending the nightmare facing millions of people who now live in the shadows of our economy and culture.

The Tucson meeting, Eucharist without Borders is timed for Easter week 2012, when many liturgists, preachers, pastoral ministers, activists and others can attend. The seasonal scriptures in our worship are rich with themes of resurrection, promise and new hope.

Despite Arizona's anti-immigration profile and a national boycott of ordinary convention business, we have decided it is important to our goal of reaching the national church to take our efforts directly to the problem. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to personally experience the plight of migrants and show solidarity with the many ministries in Arizona, including Humane Borders, No More Deaths and the Kino Project.

We believe that boycotting organizations will understand how critical church support is to their own goals for immigration reform, and hope they will support our efforts to address the problem directly.