Doug Winter’s Volunteer Testimony
Hear about how RGBM Volunteer Doug Winter ignited his passion for activism and immigrant justice and found his way to volunteering in shelters in Juarez after hanging up his career of 30 years. Thank you to Doug and all of our volunteers for your unwavering support of Rio Grande Borderland Ministries.
DONATE TO RGBM TODAY
Your generosity today will be matched up to $5,500 thanks to the Immigration Ministry at St. Michael’s & All Angels Church. This matching fund was originally received when asylum seekers were streaming over the border and bused to Albuquerque, but so many circumstances have changed over the last year. In line with donor intent to provide direct support to the most vulnerable, and at the recommendation of the Borderland Ministries, St. Michael's would like to support the Anglican shelters in Juárez which are now used for quarantining migrants deported from US detention. Your gift to RGBM today will be matched up to this amount! Donate here, and to learn more about the St. Michael’s Immigration Ministry, visit their website by clicking the button below.
Sin Fronteras Reading Group, Co-led by Padre David Ulloa Chavez, Missioner for Border Ministries for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona and The Rev. Mike Wallens, Co-Chair of RGBM
Over the course of six weeks, we will read, reflect, and pray for the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the US/Mexico border. Our primary text will be Miguel de la Torre’s book The Immigration Crisis: Towards an Ethics of Place. The reading group will begin meeting on October 28th. Below is the Zoom information for the Sin Fronteras Reading Group. To learn more about the reading schedule, please see the full lesson plan here. Questions? Email David at david@azdiocese.org or Mike at michaelwallens@gmail.com
Episcopal Diocese of Arizona is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Without Borders Reading Group
Time: Every 2 weeks on Wed, 7 occurrence(s)
Oct 28, 2020 02:30 PM - (Mountain Standard)
Nov 11, 2020 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Nov 25, 2020 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Dec 9, 2020 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Jan 6, 2021 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Jan 20, 2021 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Feb 3, 2021 02:30 PM- (Mountain Standard)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84481427404?pwd=ODI1RDBydmVWUGpkblpWY1JrUG8wQT09
Meeting ID: 844 8142 7404
Passcode: borders
The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego Presents: The Border Ministries Summit 2020 November 20-21, 2020
Join us for the Virtual Border Ministries Summit 2020 and hear from those at the center of the immigrant community in San Diego. Our focus will be on Christian Peacemaking in a World of Conflict. Learn from undocumented people, deportees, first generation immigrants and Christian leaders who live in Tijuana and San Diego. We will hear from Episcopal / Anglican Bishops and other leaders on both sides of the border, as well as from the Border Patrol and legal experts. We will not only learn about immigration but will be equipped with tangible Christian Peacemaking practices to live out in our own contexts as Everyday Peacemakers. The pain is real and the opportunity for transformation and healing is as well. This is the Third Annual Border Summit, designed for Episcopal and other Christian leaders wanting more information about the US-Mexico border, and for those who want to learn the basics of becoming Christian Peacemakers in this time of deep division. To learn more about The Border Ministries Summit 2020 and register for the event, please visit borderministries.com.
Children watching Moana in Juárez
(Photo by Doug Winter, RGBM Volunteer)
ADVOCACY UPDATE from EPISCOPAL MIGRATION MINISTRIES
On October 8, Episcopal Migration Ministries, in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) AMMPARO and Lutheran Family Services of the Rocky Mountains, hosted the first of the three-part virtual training series, Walking with Asylum Seekers. During this webinar, Giovana Oaxaca, the Director of Migration Policy for the ELCA, gave a comprehensive background and status update on the administration’s asylum policies, and recommended specific advocacy steps each of us can take to protect asylum. To view the recording of the webinar, click here. Ms. Oaxaca’s presentation is 15:20 to 25:08. After viewing the webinar, we encourage you to contact your Senators and Representative by calling the Capitol Switchboard:
Here is a sample phone script: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and [as a person of faith], I urge you to hold the administration accountable to restore asylum protections and stop the administration’s evisceration of the U.S. asylum system. The administration has already created insurmountable barriers for asylum seekers and returning them to the violence and persecution they fled. I urge you to:
Defund unlawful anti-asylum policies including unlawful CDC expulsions and enact safeguards to the U.S. asylum system.
Ensure robust oversight of any USCIS appropriation.
End immigrant detention, deportations, and 1325/1326 prosecutions at minimum during the COVID-19 pandemic – and fight for the health and freedom of all immigrants by releasing all individuals held in immigrant detention.
Support & co-sponsor pro-asylum legislation, including the Refugee Protection Act (RPA) (S.2936 / H.R.5210); the Immigration Enforcement Moratorium Act (S.4011); the Federal Immigrant Release for Safety and Security Together Act (FIRST Act) (H.R.6537 / S.3645); and the Asylum Seeker Protection Act (H.R. 2662) [Applies to House of Representative only].Influential Senators to Engage with: Senators Rubio (R-FL), Scott (R-FL), McSally (R-AZ), Gardner (R-CO), Perdue (R-GA), Carper (D-DE), Peters (D-MI), Tillis (R-NC), and Portman (R-OH)
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES from Episcopal Migration Ministries
Walking with Asylum Seekers: A Training Series for Congregations: This series continues with two trainings on Congregational Sponsorship. In the month of October, join Episcopal Migration Ministries, in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and Lutheran Family Services of the Rocky Mountains (LFSRM), for a three-part training series for congregations interested in supporting and walking alongside asylum seekers. The three 90-minute virtual events will provide advocacy updates, resources for group discernment, ministry models, and important considerations when engaging in ministry with asylum seekers.
Walking with Asylum Seekers: Ministry Opportunities for CongregationsRECORDING: https://vimeo.com/466356441 | FOLLOW-UP RESOURCES: http://bit.ly/october8webinar
Walking with Asylum Seekers: Sponsorship Part 1MEETING: October 20, 4:00 – 5:30PM Eastern
REGISTER: bit.ly/asylumsponsorship
Walking with Asylum Seekers: Sponsorship Part 2
MEETING: October 27, 4:00 – 5:30PM Eastern
REGISTER: bit.ly/asylumsponsorship
Registration is required. The October 8 webinar is available on-demand; the October and 27 events will not be available on-demand.
The Hometown podcast is now in its fourth season! Check out episode two for an interview with Rio Grande Borderland Ministry! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Google Play, and Spotify.
Internships with Episcopal Migration Ministries: Episcopal Migration Ministries’ Church Engagement Team is excited to announce four new internship opportunities for students at seminaries or other pastoral/theological training programs. These internships will offer advocacy and policy skills, opportunities to connect with community leaders, as well as relationship and partnership with grassroots networks of Episcopalians engaged in the work of migration ministries.
The internships will provide an opportunity to connect with developing ministry networks, to learn more about grassroots engagement at the parish, diocesan, and church-wide level, and to delve deeply into the resources available on migration ministries, from worship and liturgy materials to policy analysis and advocacy.
All internships are part-time, non-stipendiary, and fully virtual. Length of internship is negotiable. Information: https://episcopalmigrationministries.org/emm-engagement-seminary-internship-opportunities/
Join an EMM Ministry Network: EMM is hosting two new ministry networks: the Episcopal Ministry Network on Detention and the Episcopal Ministry Network on Asylum. These networks are focused on education, service, and advocacy, with a special attention to developing resources and fostering relationships to benefit local ministries. New members are welcome.
Episcopal Ministry Network on Detention meets on the first Monday of the month, 10:00am-11:15am Mountain Time. Join.
Episcopal Ministry Network on Asylum meets on the third Monday of the month, 10:00am-11:15am Mountain Time. Join.
#EMMReads Book Kits
EMM is now offering free book discussion guides on a number of titles written by immigrant authors or about immigrant/refugee topics. Simply request the Book Kits and they will be emailed to you for download. Titles include We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You, and After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America.
Ministry Resource: In fall 2019, Episcopal Migration Ministries released the first edition of Supporting Asylum Seekers: A Toolkit for Congregations. This resource is free; request it here and it will be emailed to you for download.
Prayer for Migrants
For all those who see “home” and all it means disappear behind them;
For all those who cannot see a home in the days ahead of them;
For all those who dwell in daily insecurity;
For all those who are weary and without a safe place to rest their heads;
For all families in migration we pray.
May the image of the Holy Family fleeing oppression stay with us as we enter each new day,
And stay with us each night as we are blessed with returning to a home.
May we also be blessed with compassion for those
Still weary, still seeking, still with so far to go.
[Adapted from Jane Deren, 2007]