Denver Catholic

INDEX Archbishop's Column ......................2 The Catholic Difference ..................4 Nun of the Above quiz ....................4 Letters to the Editor .......................4 Real Life Catholic .............................5 Canonization pilgrimage ................7 Bulletin Board ................................. 14 Service Directory ........................... 15 113 Years of Service to the Gospel www.DenverCatholicRegister.org I Follow us on INSIDE HHS MANDATE Volume XC - No. 1 JANUARY 8, 2014 Pushed from home, and into darkness U.S. bishops highlight plight of migrants BY JULIE FILBY & LARA MONTOYA DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER FILE PHOTO BY JAMES BACA Obama to Little Sisters: It's just a piece of paper PAGE 6 LOCAL NEWS 'High times' in Denver bring hard times for parents PAGE 2 This story is the first in a series related to National Migration Week Jan. 5-11, an initiative of the U.S. bishops that calls Catholics to help ease the struggles of vulnerable immigrant populations. Efraín and Angélica lived on a small ranch in Chihuahua, in northern Mexico. Their situation was precarious. They had a baby to care for, and neither of them had steady work. Efraín soon made the decision so many men and women in his situation make—he left for the United States. He wasn't seeking out the "American dream." All he wanted was to make a little money so he could return to his ranch, his family and his hometown, and start a business. It was a good plan. "Six months after he left, I received a call from a hospital. My husband was gravely ill and they asked me to come immediately as he had nobody there to help him," Angélica recounted in an interview with El Pueblo Católico. Efraín was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The Acosta-Hernández family, faced with a life-threatening diagnosis, was stuck. "I felt I couldn't leave my husband alone, but I couldn't take him to Mexico either," Angélica recalled. "We didn't have PHOTO BY MARCELO CUGLIARI THROUGH the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services, and its diocesan networks, including Catholic Charities, the Church has assisted and cared for unaccompanied migrant and refugee children for many years. During National Migration Week, Jan. 5-11, the bishops aim to raise awareness of this, and other vulnerable populations, such as undocumented immigrants and victims of human trafficking. anything, and he needed expensive and extensive medical treatments. In a sense, we had to establish ourselves here." Push and pull When considering the 40 million people that make up the immigrant population in the United States—including 494,760 individuals in Colorado—it's important to remember the "push and pull" that brought them here in the first place, explained Immigrants make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. While they represent a wide range of ethnic groups, religions and education levels, the one thing almost all of them have in common is they have left behind their home. It is a struggle for many, even if that home consisted of very little. See Immigration, Page 6 School of Faith RESPECT LIFE Upcoming events to honor millions lost in 41 years of legal abortion PAGE 3 NEW COLUMNIST FR. TAD PACHOLCZYCK: The care of pregnant women in Catholic hospitals Cheryl Martinez-Gloria, Esq., director of Immigration Services for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver. "People flee their homelands due to poverty, persecution, civil war or simply looking for a better life with greater freedoms—the 'push factors,'" she said. "The 'pull factors' are U.S. demand for cheap labor, and our economic and political interests abroad, which can cause worsening conditions in other countries." PAGE 12 THE BAPTISM OF JESUS: JAN. 12 Baptism is the gateway to the whole Christian life and the door that gives access to the other sacraments (CCC 1213). It is through the sacrament of baptism that we are freed from original sin and become children of God. It is through our participation in the baptism of Christ that Paradise is once again available to us. St. Ephrem the Syrian states that at the Fall, Adam and Eve lost the "Robe of Glory" with which they had originally been clothed. At baptism, Christ laid the Robe of Glory in the river Jordan making it available once again for humanity to put on in baptism. —Denver Catholic Biblical and Catechetical schools

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