Notre Dame held a Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart for immigrants and immigration reform on Monday. The event was followed by a trip to the Grotto for prayer and further reflection on the state of immigration policy in the United States.
University President Fr. Robert Dowd said that the Mass was inspired by his meeting with Pope Leo XIV and the rare special message from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops condemning “indiscriminate mass deportation” and advocating for immigration reform.
“For some time, I have been thinking a great deal about the immigration issue in our country. A few weeks ago, during the visit that other university leaders and I had with Pope Leo, we talked about a number of things, including his concerns for immigrants in the United States these days. Just before that visit, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a special message on immigration. It was clear to me that it was time for us, as members of the Notre Dame family, to gather in prayer for immigrants as well as for sensible and humane immigration reform,” Dowd said in an email interview.
Law School professor and director of the Notre Dame Immigration Clinic Ashley Sanchez said the USCCB’s message was not a call for open borders, but rather an appeal for the need to recognize human dignity.
“One thing that I really liked out of the bishops’ statement was saying that human dignity and national security are not in conflict … I think a lot of people just assume that you have to choose either between hard line immigration and national security. And as immigration advocates, that's not what we're arguing for … We want people to follow laws, but the whole idea is to treat the people who are in the system with dignity and respect. And that’s really not what's happening right now,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez further emphasized the relevance of this message in light of recent changes in immigration policy and enforcement. “There’s just so much anti-immigrant rhetoric that people are not being treated with basic dignity. People following processes they’re supposed to do are losing their immigration status arbitrarily … People are being arrested at their green card interviews. People who are in the process to have their applications heard are having their cases just canceled out of nowhere. This is not a normal environment. It makes it impossible for people [to] play by the rules,” she said.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Amaro, a junior and member of Notre Dame’s Student Coalition for Immigration Advocacy, mentioned what she sees as the impact that Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend has had on Notre Dame’s recent focus on immigration reform after his visit to the Law School in early November.
“Bishop Rhoades reminded us of our Catholic duty, duty that precedes any political affiliation, whether Democrat or Republican. He noted that our society has become polarized, and that this polarization has caused many to overlook the humanity at the heart of the immigration issue,” Gonzalez-Amaro said.
Sanchez felt that this message of putting politics aside in favor of shared humanity was evident at the Mass on Monday.
“I really like the homily from the Mass that, you know, Jesus is present in the most vulnerable people. And I think that’s just really what’s going on right now is people are forgetting that. They’re putting their politics at the center of everything that they’re doing, instead of just remembering that every single person is a child of God … If you really buy into the idea that everyone deserves dignity, you realize that there’s something wrong happening,” Sanchez said.
Betsy Weber, a freshman theology major who attended the Mass, said the message on immigration felt especially relevant during the season of Advent. “I didn’t realize the connection between beginning Advent and how Mary and Joseph were migrants too … I think these readings fit really well,” Weber said.
However, she felt the message imparted at the Mass was incomplete. “Coming from Texas, it’s kind of hard because we get that whole situation it’s close to, and so I’m glad that they’re talking about the human person, but [there are] a bunch of other issues I wish were also addressed as well,” Weber said.
According to Gonzalez-Amaro, Notre Dame’s decision to act upon the USCCB’s call aligns directly with Catholic social teaching.
“It is important for Notre Dame to highlight issues surrounding immigration because they’re fundamentally connected to our Catholic mission, and specifically … our commitment to the dignity of every human person, especially in a time when national discourse has become polarized,” she said. “The Catholic university has a responsibility to bring more clarity to this conversation and to ground it in compassion.”
At the end of the Mass, Dowd echoed this sentiment in his call for the Notre Dame community to turn faith into action. “As I noted in my homily, we must always do more than complain about a social problem. My hope is that we here at Notre Dame deepen our understanding of the complexity of this problem, keep the importance of respect for human dignity at the forefront of our efforts, and work with others to propose sensible and humane solutions,” he said.
