Christ in the Heart of the Migrant Farmworker Today

Delegation Trip Report - October 2023

After a multi-year pause on visitations due to the pandemic, the USCCB’s office of Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees, and Travelers (PCMRT) renewed its migrant worker-focused delegation visits on August 27-30, 2023 to the Diocese of Yakima. In its daily work, PCMRT develops catechetical, liturgical and evangelization materials for use with farmworkers, the promotion of regional, diocesan and local gatherings of persons involved in ministry with farmworkers, and assistance to the USCCB Migration and Refugee Services’ Policy Office on the development of statements and positions regarding legislation affecting farmworkers.

To this end, these annual delegation trips provide an opportunity to meet and pray with our brothers and sisters in farm work and the ministry leaders who accompany them, and to provide clarity about the cultural, economic, and spiritual challenges that migrant workers confront while living and working in the United States.

Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Yakima Diocese welcomed participants of the 2023 delegation, which had as its theme, “Christ in the Heart of the Migrant Farmworker Today.” National leaders who participated in the PCMRT trip held to the commitment that they are a part of “a Church that goes forth” to encounter migrants. Such a commitment brings to mind the words of Bishop Tyson, that “the church does not have a mission; the mission has a church.”

The delegation trip to the Diocese of Yakima sought to empower and strengthen migrant farmworker ministry and migrant ministry efforts by providing ministry resources, sharing best practices, and opportunities for new collaborations with other migrant ministry leaders in the nation. It would also provide an opportunity to engage the migrant farmworker community in Yakima through conversation, cultural exchange, and pastoral accompaniment.

Please read the full delegation report. Should you have any questions or follow up, email Tony Cube at [email protected]

In solidarity,

Tony Cube

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