SAN DIEGO — The Catholic Church has been celebrating the World Day of Migrants and Refugees since 1914. It is an occasion to express concern for different vulnerable people on the move; to pray for them as they face many challenges; and to increase awareness about the opportunities that migration offers.
Every year, the day is celebrated on the last Sunday of September; in 2024, it will be celebrated on the 29th. As the title for his annual message, the Holy Father has chosen “God walks with His people.”
“It is an occasion charged with salvation because Jesus is present in the sister or brother in need of our help. In this sense, the poor save us, because they enable us to encounter the face of the Lord.”
Locally, the Church continued to encounter and assist migrants and refugees through Catholic Charities. The organization operates programs that assist immigrants and refugees and operates two Migrant Respite Shelters in San Diego and Imperial counties.
The shelters welcomed 98,183 asylum-seekers from June 2023 to June 2024. Nearly a third of them were families, according to the organization.
The shelters have served a total of 362,233, of which 95,922 were children, since they opened their doors in May of 2021 to July 30 of this year.
The migrants’ top countries of origin were Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and China. In all, they came from 143 countries, about 70% of the world’s nationalities.
These migrants were released by the Border Patrol and were legally in the country while they awaited a court date on their petition for asylum.
“We, as His followers, are called by Him to welcome the stranger, and when we do this, He would definitely say, ‘Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for Me,’” said the organization’s chief executive officer, Appaswamy “Vino” Pajanor, citing Scripture (Matt 25:40).
The organization’s staff and volunteers at the shelters welcome the migrants, provide a health screening, and meet their basic needs, treating them with dignity, regardless of their faith tradition and culture. They connect them with loved ones elsewhere in the country and coordinate their travel by bus or airplane, usually within a day or two of arrival. The most common destinations are elsewhere in California, New York, New Jersey and Florida.
The organization also operates a program that serves refugees legally authorized to resettle in the country. Its staff resettled 417 refugees in the period of Oct. 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024.
In that period, the agency also assisted 2,001 refugees and asylum-seekers through the San Diego Newcomers Project, providing training in English, employment services, and cultural orientation, among other services. They came from such countries as Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba, Haiti and Ukraine.
Volunteers Needed
Catholic Charities needs volunteers to serve in its migrant shelter program to help asylum-seekers in a variety of ways, from assembling snack bags, to organizing clothing and other donated items, to helping migrants at the bus terminal or airport. Volunteer opportunities are available seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
For more information and to register to volunteer, visit bit.ly/3yKzdgt.
