SAN DIEGO — “In migrants we see our own humanity.”
That’s this year’s theme of the traditional celebration of faith that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border fence. Christian faith organizations and shelters for migrants in Tijuana will present the 26th annual “La Posada Without Borders” on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 2:30-4 p.m.
The event commemorates the journey that Joseph and Mary made to Bethlehem in search of safe lodging where Mary could give birth to the baby Jesus.
Participants, including Auxiliary Bishop John P. Dolan, will gather once more at Friendship Park, within Border Field State Park, on the U.S. side of the fence. Tijuana’s Archbishop Francisco Moreno Barrón will lead participants on the other side of the fence, including Father Pat Murphy, the director of the shelter Casa del Migrante.
Taking turns from either side of the fence, they will sing traditional posada songs, pray and remember those migrants who died trying to cross north.
The area north of the fence is heavily patrolled by the U.S. Border Patrol and access to Friendship Park is limited to pedestrians. Participants will need to park at Border Field State Park, located at 1500 Monument Rd., San Diego 92154, dress warmly and be prepared to walk for at least a half-hour to Friendship Park.
“Walk and talk to the park” will be from 1-2 p.m., orientation is at 2, the program begins at 2:30, and the return walk will be at 4.
The American Friends Service Committee-San Diego is the main organizer of this event, from north of the border. Others are El Faro Border Church (United Methodist); Office for Life, Peace and Justice, San Diego Catholic Diocese; Center for Justice and Reconciliation, Point Loma Nazarene University; First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego; San Diego First Church of the Nazarene; the Global Immersion Project; and San Diego Friends Meeting (Quakers).
The organizations supporting it on the Mexico side are the Archdiocese of Tijuana, Casa del Migrante; Instituto Madre Asunta (shelter for women), National Commission for Human Rights; YMCA House, Coalition Pro-Defense of Migrants, PAX Acción es Cultura; Salesian Dining Room “Padre Chava”; American Friends Service Committee-LAC; La Iglesia Fronteriza and the Salvation Army.
For more information, contact Pedro Rios at prios@afsc.org or (619) 233-4114.
