"For the Lord, your God, is the … Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes, who executes justice for the orphan and widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him. So you, too, must befriend the alien, for you were aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt."

---Deuteronomy 10: 17-19

The Catholic Church, in view of the many critical problems that humankind faces, has taken the great responsibility to delineate Gospel-based moral guidelines that reflect a deep concern about global issues that affect hundreds of millions of people all over the world.

More recently the Catholic Church has been very outspoken about immigration and has attempted to set out moral principles that will promote immigration reform and guide individual action.

This concern has been stated throughout the years in commentaries on and teachings of the Old and New Testaments. These teachings have also been expressed in a variety of documents and writings by the highest authorities of the Church:

---Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic constitution Exsul Familia (1952);

---Pope John XXIII in his encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963);

--- Pope John Paul in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America (1999);

---and in a bi-national pronouncement entitled "Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope," a Pastoral Letter concerning migration from the Catholic Bishops of Mexico and the United States (2003).

Love of our neighbor has been emphasized by Pope Benedict XVI in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (2005). The leadership of Cardinal Roger Mahony with respect to immigration reform is another example of the Catholic Church's active role in promoting social justice and fairness within the community.

The teachings of the Church reveal that through peaceful means, a just and violence-free world can be built on the basis of our faith and on the basis of expanded and stronger relationships.

The Church in its teachings and encyclicals views immigration as a phenomenon that deeply affects the individual and his/her communities of origin and destination. The individual suffering of those who migrate, their tragic and unnecessary deaths, the abuse of human rights and family disintegration have moved the Catholic Church to commit itself through its teachings and actions to try replace racist and xenophobic attitudes with those of solidarity and openness.

The Catholic bishops of the United States and México address Americans and Mexicans by reminding them of their social, cultural and economic interdependence throughout history and assuring them that work in solidarity is indispensable to hope for better and more productive times.

They also encourage them to participate as true neighbors in the building of a just immigration system that will benefit the two nations, with consideration for, and examination of, the causes of migration and its consequences in the places of origin and destination.

The role of the Catholic Church has been well defined as a sanctuary where all immigrants are accepted as brothers and sisters and where the fusion of energies will build stronger communities. The echoes of the teachings of the Church in this respect have resonated directly (for example, the U.S. bishops' "Justice for Immigrants" campaign) or indirectly through the emergence of various agencies and organizations that have supported the integration of immigrants into the workforce as a means of meeting their needs and meeting the economic needs of the local community.

An exemplary case of such an institution is the Pomona Day Labor Center, which was founded almost a decade ago with the purpose of serving the various communities in the area. The Pomona Day Labor Center --- a non-profit day labor organization --- was founded in the 1990s with the collaboration of the City of Pomona, social activists, faculty and students of various local colleges, and the workers themselves. Since then, the city of Pomona has played an important role in the Center, as have the Claremont Colleges and Cal Poly Pomona, academic institutions that introduced various programs in order to benefit both communities.

The Center offers a safe space to immigrant workers, while providing the citizens in the surrounding vicinities with a respectable and well organized facility where they can hire a ready labor force any day during the week or weekend. Dr. José Calderón has been one of the leading figures who has made great efforts throughout the years to connect this community with the Claremont Colleges, as well as other communities and groups.

Director Suzanne Foster created an ESL program five years ago with a small group of Pitzer College students. These classes have been very successful and continue to be taught during the academic year and the summer. Volunteers contribute with their knowledge, teaching Computer classes and Preventive Medicine workshops, as well Spanish Grammar and Indigenous Literatures courses. There is a plan to introduce drama classes and to form a theatrical group in the winter of 2008.

Many other programs (medicine, self-development, practical training) are offered by volunteers and other agencies at no or low cost for the Center. These student volunteers and academicians from diverse fields have contributed to the growth of the center throughout the years; however, the workers have also immensely contributed to the growth of various programs at other colleges (Pitzer College, for example) with their participation at conferences, cultural events and other meetings, where an amiable exchange of ideas has taken place.

The Center serves more than 100 laborers on a daily basis, and has been recognized as a model to follow. As recently as June, the Center was visited by representatives of various agencies located in San Bernardino, Orange County and Washington, D.C., who were seeking a model to bring back to their communities (even while, ironically, the Center is at this moment facing a drastic and sudden shortage of funds that might jeopardize its existence).

Many parish and diocesan representatives of the Catholic Church also have supported the center in various ways. By their words and their acts they have set an example for Catholics to follow.

As a theme for meditation about immigration reform within the scope of American history and Catholic teachings, let me finish with this quote from "Strangers No Longer":

"The United States has received immigrants from around the world who have found opportunity and safe haven in a new land. The labor, values and beliefs of immigrants from throughout the world have transformed the United States from a loose group of colonies into one of the leading democracies in the world today. From its founding to the present, the United States remains a nation of immigrants grounded in the firm belief that newcomers offer new energy, hope and cultural diversity."

Martha Barcenas-Mooradian is a parishioner at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Claremont, and a Spanish Professor at Pitzer College. She writes on topics related to second language acquisition, indigenous literatures, marginalized populations and education.