In work on immigration, Protestants, Catholics find unity in Mary

Published: 2005-06-15

PHOENIX (CNS) -- Religious leaders involved in ecumenical efforts to find just solutions to the nation's current immigration crisis have encountered unexpected common ground: the Virgin Mary. "Migrants turn to Mary naturally because they understand her to be someone who was on the outs of society and had become a migrant herself," said Rick Ufford-Chase, a Presbyterian who works in Tucson with Protestants, Catholics and Jews to provide a faith-based response on immigration issues. "You come down here to the border and you begin to work across Protestant and Catholic divisions and you discover we have a heck of a lot more in common" than one would expect, he added. Through Mary, all Christians can better understand the immigrant's situation, Ufford-Chase told The Catholic Sun, newspaper of the Phoenix Diocese. "We find in her the figure of an unwed pregnant teenager who was forced to move because of government regulations," he added.

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