An Immigration Reform prayer service took place at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2013 at the Mount Saint Joseph Motherhouse Chapel. “Prayer for Reform,” leading to compassionate and comprehensive immigration legislation, was a public prayer service with music and readings and Scripture. The IMMIGRANT litany of readings was from “In the Migrant Journey,” written by Saulo Padilla, the director of the Office on Immigration Education.
The Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Cincinnati asked religious communities that are members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to host a public prayer service between Sept. 9 and Oct. 18, the dates LCWR has called for prayer and fasting for humane reform. The prayer service by the Ursuline Sisters also supports the effort of the Most. Rev. William Medley, bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro, to urge Congress to pass just immigration reform.
Congregational Leader Sister Sharon Sullivan expressed during her reflection at the event: “Truly, we are challenged and called by the tenets of our faith and by the witness and experiences of our brothers and sisters seeking some sign of welcome and of recognition. We recognize an urgent duty to stand in solidarity with all humanity seeking at least a reasonable life; we accept that it is our urgent duty to stand in solidarity with the fundamentals of our faith – the belief in the great truth that we are – each of us – beloved children of the one God…
“We ask that you make every effort to continue this prayer and awareness beyond tonight… Pledge yourself each day to undertake …prayer, fasting, conversation, advocacy. Let us each commit to continue the eternal reform of our hearts.”
