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To: Priests, Deacons and Liturgy Coordinators
From: Kat Doyle, Director, Justice & Peace Ministries; Office of Life, Dignity and Justice
For nearly a half century, the Catholic Church in the United States has celebrated National Migration Week, as an opportunity for the Church to reflect on the circumstances confronting migrants who are fleeing war, persecution, natural disasters and economic devastation, including immigrants, displaced persons, refugees, children, and victims and survivors of human trafficking.
This year from Sunday, January 7 through Sunday January 14, 2018, in celebration of National Migration Week and World Day of Migrants and Refugees, and in support of the international Share the Journey campaign introduced by Pope Francis in September 2017, the Archdiocese of Atlanta asks every parish to share in the journey of migrants by pitching a small tent in the front of your church with a horizontal or vertical sign proclaiming “Love Your Neighbor – Share the Journey.”
In addition, we hope you will invite other faith traditions in your community to do the same. This is truly a multi-faith initiative in which we are all called to shine a light and lead the way. Imagine all of our north Georgia faith communities pitching tents in front of their places of worship and visibly standing in solidarity with our migrant brothers and sisters, all deserving of dignity and love!
We hope that you will join us in celebrating this important week and be intentional in building relationships with the migrants in your community. Please see the attached flyer and additional attachments. For more information on the Share the Journey campaign, visit https://www.sharejourney.org/ or contact me at kdoyle@archatl.com for additional National Migration Week resources.