LOS ANGELES --- The sixth annual Archdiocesan Mass in memory of Cesar E. Chavez will be celebrated March 26, 3:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala will preside at the celebration, which will commemorate the labor leader's legacy and commitment to the struggle for justice and dignity for workers. A statement from the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation said that the celebration seeks to provide an understanding of the important contributions of immigrants in our society and protect their legitimate rights as human beings.

Additionally, the event hopes to encourage civic action for real political and social change; bring awareness to the continuous struggle for low-wage workers rights and healthcare for all; and promote the opportunity for all Californians to apply for a drivers license.

Numerous community, labor and social justice groups are listed as sponsors of the celebration. For information, call the archdiocesan Office of Justice and Peace, (213) 637-7690, or the Chavez Foundation, (818) 265-0300.

Asian and Pacific Catholics to hold
multicultural convocation-pilgrimage
ORANGE --- The U.S. Catholic bishops' call for comprehensive immigration reform, human trafficking and other social justice concerns will be addressed at the inaugural convocation of Asian and Pacific Catholics to be held June 30-July 3 in Arlington, Va.

About 2,000 pastors, religious and lay leaders, social workers, diocesan directors and educators from the United States as well as Asian and Pacific countries are expected to attend this multi-cultural and multi-ethnic gathering. The event was announced March 10 at a news conference in Orange County.

The National Asian and Pacific Catholic Convocation (NAPCC), which carries the theme "Harmony in Faith," is being organized by the National Asian and Pacific Organization (NAPCO) in cooperation with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops through the Migration and Refugees' Services (MRS) Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees (PCMR).

Cardinal Stephen Hamao, president of the Pontifical Council for Migration, will deliver the keynote. Other speakers include Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino, Auxiliary Bishop Dominic Mai Luong of Orange and Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines.

There are 12.8 million Asian and Pacific peoples in the United States (based on the U.S. Census 2000), with 11.9 million Asians alone most of them Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese. Asian and Pacific Catholics constitute three percent of the U.S. Catholic population (2006: 65 million comprising the nation's largest religious denomination).

Conference organizers said that the U.S. bishops have recognized the contributions of Asian and Pacific peoples, yet many Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. ---Catholics and immigrants among them --- continue to face poverty, racial prejudice, prolonged separation from families in their homelands, deep identify crisis especially among the youth, human trafficking and other social justice concerns.

The current controversy over H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act, has also affected Asians and Pacific Islanders particularly those deemed as "undocumented" and over which concerns have been raised by the USCCB and other Catholic organizations.

"It is in this context that the four-day convocation cum celebration also aims to initiate an inter-cultural dialogue and deepen the faith, ministry and mission among the Asian and Pacific Islanders as well as the commitment to social justice," organizers said.

Delegates to the convocation will attend plenary sessions, prayer experiences and workshops. The latter includes ethnic workshops in Indonesian, Japanese, Tongan, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Pakistani, South Asia (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh), Vietnamese and Cambodia.

The lead organizer of the convocation, NAPCO, was established in 2004 as a response to the USCCB's pastoral statement, "Asian and Pacific Presence: Harmony in Faith" in 2001. Involved in the organization are Church and lay leaders who are active in the pastoral care of Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Pope temporarily merges four Vatican
councils under two presidents
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- At the start of what may be a sweeping reform of the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict XVI merged the leadership of four of the Vatican's councils under two presidents.

The Vatican announced March 11 that French Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, also would serve as the interim president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and that Italian Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, temporarily would head the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.

The Vatican announced that the pope accepted the retirement of the head of the migrants' council, Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, who turned 76 March 9. To fill the vacancy, the pope united "for the time being" the presidency of the office with that of justice and peace. Cardinal Poupard's assignment as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue filled a post made vacant after the pope Feb. 15 named its former head, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, to be the new ambassador to Egypt and the Arab League.

The pope decided "in order to favor a more intense dialogue between people of culture and members of various religions," to unite "for the time being, the presidency of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue with that of the Pontifical Council for Culture," the Vatican said in a written statement.

Georgia bishops issue call to protect immigrants
ATLANTA (CNS) --- Whether their status is legal or not, immigrants "are the strangers for whom God seeks protection," said Georgia's Catholic bishops in a pastoral letter.

Immigrants "are people with names and faces, hopes and fears," said Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory and Savannah Bishop J. Kevin Boland in the letter, which was released March 1. Those who seek a better life through their own hard work and sacrifice should be treated with dignity and respect, with legislation that takes into account moral implications and human consequences, they said.

Their letter decries immigration laws and policies that have become "increasingly restrictive and even harmful to some immigrants and those seeking asylum." The United States has always been made up of immigrants, "who bring with them richness in cultures and diversity from all areas of the world," they said.

The country has consistently welcomed "immigrants, refugees and exiles fleeing injustice and oppression and seeking liberty and the opportunity to achieve a full life." Despite this, as the immigrant population has soared in the past 20 years, today's newcomers "often face rejection, hostility and discrimination in our communities and even within the church," they said.