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Pray for the DREAM (Act) and Support our Immigrant Students
The Texas Catholic Conference is encouraging parishes across Texas and the country to participate in the ‘Pray for the DREAM (Act)’ Sunday on September 25, 2011. This national effort seeks to raise public awareness to the obstacles facing immigrant students and to alert parishioners to ways they can support struggling students earn a college degree and eventual employment.
Churches are gathering to raise awareness and support through a host of activities (e.g., petition drives, prayers, vigils, homilies, and more) between September 18 through October 9, with the biggest focus being Sunday, September 25.
To help your parish organize projects and events, the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops' Justice for Immigrants' has created an online resource kit available here.
ALSO, the TCC wants to hear from any and all parishes about Events and Activities they are planning. We would love to prominently feature your parish or youth group on the TCC website and in TCC publications!
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to let us know how your parish is participating.
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We cannot insist too much on the duty of giving foreigners a hospitable reception. It is a duty imposed by human solidarity and by Christian charity, and it is incumbent upon families and educational institutions in the host nations.
--Pope Paul VI
On the Development of Peoples
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About the DREAM Act
The proposed DREAM Act (acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) is currently before the U.S. Congress. It offers to provide temporary residency to undocumented immigrant students who agree to complete two years military service or register for at least two years at a four-year college. Upon successfully completing military service or earning a college degree, the undocumented residents could apply for permanent legal status.
The DREAM Act is partially modeled on legislation signed by Governor Rick Perry in 2001, which provides in-state tuition for undocumented students who have lived in Texas for three years prior before earning their high school diploma and a year before enrolling in a state college of university. In exchange, students must promise to become a permanent resident of the United States as soon as they are eligible. The downside to Texas' law is that while immigrant students can earn college degrees, they are stalled or impeded in obtaining their legal status, which subsequently prohibits them from entering the workforce.
You can learn more through the College for All Texans web site, operated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which provides a plethora of resources on preparing for college, and provides specific information on residency here. The University Leadership Initiative also provides information and assistance for immigrant students applying for admission and financial aid to public Texas colleges or universities.
Why is the DREAM Act Important to the Church?
The Lord gives each of us a skill or talent, that if honed and developed properly, can benefit ourselves and our communities. Ignoring these gifts--or actively preventing the nurturing of the gifts is others--is a shameful waste.
Jesus' Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) tells the story of a man who entrusts his wealth to three servants while he is away. While two of the servants use their talents and wits to invest and double their master’s wealth, the third servant buries his allotment in the ground out of fear. The master lauds the servants whose efforts brought benefits, buts scolds the third for wasting the opportunity.
Bright, eager students who desire to learn, grow, and develop their gifts to benefit us all are a treasure to our nation. Ignoring (or burying) these students’ talents not only thwarts their hopes and dreams but diminishes the quality of life of us all.
DREAM Act Resources from Justice for Immigrants:
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