Sheila Gilbert, SVDP USA National President ,writes,
Today, Wednesday, November 13, is the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants and the first United States citizen to be canonized. Catholics across the country are being asked to contact Congress to urge them to support comprehensive immigration reform. As a “Voice of the Poor,” I also urge you to contact your fellow Vincentians and encourage them to call Congress with a message of support for comprehensive immigration reform.
For several years now, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and many other Catholic groups have been urging Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The U.S. Senate has already done so, but the House of Representatives has yet to take up the measure, and it appears that leadership in the House is content to let the matter lie idle. So, it’s becoming even more important for us to contact our fedeal legislators, especially those in the House, to urge them to take up the issue.
Call (202) 738-5344 today (Wednesday, November 13) to tell your representative that you support immigration reform that offers a pathway to citizenship that protects family unity.  Your phone message should be brief, such as the following:
“My name is ___________, from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. As a constituent and person of faith, I support immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship that keeps families together. I support H.R. 15, and I want to see comprehensive immigration reform legislation passed by the end of this year.”
Alternatively, you can email this message to your representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 15. By clicking on the following link, you can access a Web page at Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby, where you can find out more about H.R. 15, and be directly linked to the email addresses for your federal legislators:Â http://www.capwiz.com/networklobby/dbq/officials/.
Finally, if you’re interested, you can download a special Mother Cabrini prayer card that contains a thoughtful prayer reflecting Catholic teaching about immigration:Â http://www.networklobby.org/files/Mother%20Cabrini%20Prayer%20Card.pdf.
Thank you for your involvement and support for those who are vulnerable, living in poverty and in need.
Yours in St. Vincent and Blessed Frédéric,
Sheila Gilbert
President
National Council of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Tags: Advocacy, Gilbert, Immigration reform, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, SVDP
