by Vincent Ojwang | Oct 27, 2025 | International Days
Together with the universal Church, we join in the commemoration of the 9th World Day of the Poor on Sunday, the 33rd in Ordinary Time, November 16 2025. In this Jubilee Year, the theme is “You are my hope.”
In his message for this Day, Pope Leo XIV invites us to recognize in those who live in poverty “witnesses of a strong and steadfast hope, precisely because they embody it amid uncertainty, poverty, instability, and marginalization.”
From the JPIC team of the Claretian Family, we invite you to join through the prayer prepared by the Cordimarian Missionary Sisters and through concrete actions; if we already have them in our missionary journey, let us remember that making visible and sharing the joy that these works bring us is always worthwhile.
Let us continue spreading that Fire which urges us to walk with others on the path of life.
download the document here https://www.somicmf.org/download/199/jpic/5303/eg-world-day-of-the-poor.pdf?lang=en
by Vincent Ojwang | Oct 3, 2025 | JPIC Grassroots News
Fifty years have passed since two Claretian missionaries, Roberto Rocchi and Angelo Cupini, moved from the Claretian seminary in Lierna to Malgrate, in the province of Lecco, in October, to live in an apartment building in via Gaggio 52 to accompany and share the lives of young vulnerable people.
Our choice, approved by the religious superiors, has been transformed over time: from attention to drug addicts, to immigrants, to dialogue between civil and religious experiences.
After fifty years, we ask ourselves how has it been possible to live such a long time?
God has accompanied us in the trust that our religious superiors have had; there have been ‘normal’ families who have welcomed us and opened their homes to hospitality; the adhesion of lay people, women and men, to this life project. People have enveloped us with their goodness and made us do things we would never have imagined.
We seem to be rereading some pages from the early days of the church.
The name we chose as indicative was that of a postal address reference, but in the ancient Longobard language gaggio meant the common forest where people used to go to get wood for the life of the house. It is a name that has served us well.
This is how we tried to make our life: welcoming, economically sustained by the professional work we did, attentive to the transformations of the area. We walked a lot, moving with every signal that came our way. We listened to what people pointed out to us, we bet together on the lives to be resurrected; we trusted the Word.
The tiny Claretian presence walked by supporting everyone’s life (that is, we made it possible for everyone to realise their own life project). The association ‘Community of Via Gaggio’ has fostered the realisation of work activities, but we have not become masters of them.
We thus experienced the development of a charism at the service of a territory.
In harvesting these fifty years we have no purchased property, we think we have diluted the seed of the charism, of a model of life that is that of caring for others, of listening to the Word, of loving Justice, as we wrote on the wall of the house a few years ago, of a normal sharing between lay and religious.
To be at the service of life in all things and not to use oneself to expand one’s own area of influence, even religious.
For the past three years, the presidency and board of directors of the association has been in the hands of lay people, faithful to their choice of life.
We did not want to add the adjective Claretian to their choice of life so that their lay roots would be declared.
In continuing (or bidding farewell to) this experience, Roberto and I think we have remained faithful to mercy; we think we have put words, gestures and paths of peace into circulation.
What has the Institute gained from our presence?
We have certainly not been enriched with material goods; we have dedicated our lives to being useful; we have dialogued with the churches and with humanity, always starting from the most marginal point.
We have lived like everyone else, working and collaborating. We have reduced the violence of people on people. We have accompanied lives destined for ruin and nonsense. We keep the names, and we have written them on the Wall of Memory at the House on the Well, of a hundred or so people who have lived this experience and who have crossed the river.
We have always walked on the edge with the will to remain there so that the steps were possible for everyone.
Angelo Cupini
by Vincent Ojwang | Aug 29, 2025 | International Days, Migrants
We are preparing to celebrate, together with the entire Church, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on October 4 and 5. In the context of this Jubilee Year, the theme “Migrants, Missionaries of Hope” invites us to view migrants and refugees not only in their needs, but also as bearers of faith, resilience, and new life.
May this day be a reminder that the Church’s mission is to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants and refugees; a call to action for communities to embrace diversity, foster dialogue, and recognize the dignity of every person seeking refuge.
To help you celebrate this day, we are sending you a prayer and reflection resource prepared by the Missionaries of Saint Anthony Mary Claret. May it inspire us to be beacons of hope among those who embark on the journey in search of peace and a better life.
download document herehttps://www.somicmf.org/download/255/world-day-of-migrants-and-refugees/5111/eg-celebration-of-the-world-day-of-migrants-and-refugees-2025.pdf?lang=en
by Vincent Ojwang | Jul 31, 2025 | International Days
On December 23, 1994, the United Nations General Assembly established August 9 as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples to promote cooperation among countries around the world to address and resolve the various problems affecting these communities in areas such as land, health, education, the economy, the environment, land use, development and human rights. In this way, indigenous peoples and their cultures are beginning to be accepted and respected in such a way that they are no longer delegated, unprotected, or excluded from the social construction of states, which, in turn, are beginning to take responsibility for the care, respect, ratification and guarantees that these ancient communities demand and need.
As part of the Claretian Family, the Cordimarian Filiation proposes a time of prayer and reflection in fraternal communion with our brothers and sisters of the indigenous peoples.
download document herehttps://www.somicmf.org/download/202/international-days/5056/eg-9-august-international-day-of-indigenous-peoples.pdf?lang=en
by Vincent Ojwang | Jun 25, 2025 | America, JPIC Grassroots News
The United States of America is a country of immigrants. Except for the Native-Americans, everyone else can trace their roots from outside the country. The diversity of cultures and languages is one thing that makes the USA a unique place in the world. Currently, “most (immigrants), of course, are lawfully present, whether as naturalized citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, resettled refugees or others with permanent legal status. But a significant share of the immigrants… are vulnerable to deportation, whether because they have no legal status or their legal protections could be withdrawn.”
With the prospect of deportations on any significant level, the whole country would be negatively affected. There have been various efforts to form coalitions of Christian denominations to respond collectively to the governmental actions to remove immigrants who are not a threat to the safety of the country. The commonality for those of us who follow Christ is that “when one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it, for all Christians. We should also be clear that, as Christians, our concern is not exclusively for fellow Christians. We believe that all people, regardless of their religious beliefs, are made in the image of God with inherent dignity (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 9:6, James 3:9).
The current president stated the goal to have “the largest deportation in U.S. history.” He intends to not only deport criminals but others as well. This includes separating mothers from children which he deems necessary. The president signed an executive order signed on his first day after returning to the White House which states, “It is the policy of the United States to take all appropriate action to secure the borders of our Nation through … Removing promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of Federal law.”
According to the “best data available to make reasonable estimates of how deportations could impact Christian families in the United States, and then highlighted those statistical estimates with profiles of individuals within Catholic and Protestant congregations throughout the country, the findings are stark: Roughly one in 12 Christians in the United States are vulnerable to deportation or live with a family member who could be deported.” There are an estimated 11 million (and perhaps as high as 20 million) immigrants in the USA without proper documentation.
“(The) U.S. Department of Homeland Security is responsible for carrying out removals, often in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice, whose Immigration Judges must determine that an individual is indeed removable under the law. In certain cases, the law allows for officials other than an Immigration Judge to make the determination that an individual should be removed and then to carry out an ‘expedited removal.’” There have been reports of officials ignoring due process altogether. (https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/disappearing-people-without-warning-or-trial-ice-does-work-empire )
Because of the illegal raids, public protests this past week in Los Angeles, CA. have spurred illegal responses from the president to deploy the National Guard and Marines to quell the protestors. Now over 40 cities across the country have mobilized their own protests in solidarity with the protesters in Los Angeles. As of this writing, a federal judge has ruled that the president did not have authority to send the national guard and marines into Los Angeles but an appeals court has blocked the federal court’s ruling.(https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/la-protests-map-ice-trump-cities-los-angeles-b2769508.html and https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd62d8jp046o )
“In other circumstances, an individual facing the likelihood of formal removal may be given the option to repatriate ‘voluntarily’ at their own expense. And in other cases, individuals who fear deportation or for whom life has become increasingly difficult may choose to repatriate themselves, which is sometimes referred to as ‘self-deportation.’”
“Lawful Permanent Residents — immigrants sometimes described as having their ‘green cards’ — cannot be deported unless they violate the terms of their residence, such as by being convicted of particular criminal offenses. Similarly, individuals present on a non-immigrant visa could only face the risk of deportation after their authorized stay expires or if they violate the terms of their visa, such as by accepting employment on a visa that does not include employment authorization or by not being enrolled in school while on a student visa.”
“Temporary Protected Status Under the authority of a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, the Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to grant Temporary Protected Status to individuals who are physically present in the U.S. as of a particular date when the conditions in their country of origin make it unsafe for them to return for reasons such as war, conflict, a natural disaster or a public health epidemic. As of September 2024, roughly 1.1 million individuals were lawfully present in the United States under Temporary Protected Status. More than 95 percent of these individuals come from five countries: Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Ukraine, though there are also individuals with TPS from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Nepal and several other countries.
“Early in the new administration, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reversed extensions of TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians made in the final days of the Biden administration and terminated the 2023 designation of TPS for Venezuelans. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians are now poised to become vulnerable to deportation in the coming months, though these actions could face legal challenges.”
There are many Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the USA too. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration announced a new policy inviting particular individuals — who had arrived as children (before their 16th birthday) on or before June 15, 2007, who did not have serious criminal convictions and who were either currently enrolled in school or had graduated from school, among other requirements — to request ‘Deferred Action.’”
“The DACA policy has been notable because of the significant number of individuals who have benefited from it — more than 800,000 at one time or another. Because DACA was created by administrative action, not as a result of a change of law, it could presumably also be cancelled by the executive branch. Indeed, the Trump administration sought to do so in September 2017.
“Notably, though these hundreds of thousands of young people entered the United States as children, to be eligible for DACA they would have to have resided here continuously since June 15, 2007, at this point they are almost all adults, largely in their 20s, 30s or even 40s. Many have had children of their own: An estimated 300,000 U.S.-citizen children live with at least one parent who is a DACA recipient. Individuals with DACA could be at risk of deportation either if the (current) administration (or any subsequent presidential administration) would follow the appropriate processes to terminate DACA or if the U.S. Supreme Court would agree with the lower courts that the program was created illegally and, as a result, invalidate the policy. That would not mean that individuals would immediately face deportation, but they would be vulnerable to deportation under the law — and they presumably would lose the legal authority to accept employment and thus to provide for themselves and their families.”
The Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation dimension of our Claretian call impels us to act in urgent, timely and effective ways for our brothers and sisters who are living in fear of deportation. The Good News of Jesus Christ is needed at many different levels. We cannot act alone and must join other like minded coalitions, movements and organizations to accompany and advocate for the good of our immigrant neighbors. We pray that the Holy Spirit lead and guide us to God’s will in our service to our brothers and sisters. St. Anthony and Claretian Martyrs, pray for us; Immaculate Heart of Mary, be our salvation.
The various quotes from this article come from “One part of the Body: The Potential Impact of Deportations on American Christian Families” https://justiceforimmigrants.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/one-part-of-the-body.pdf
Fr. Art Gramaje CMF
