Immigration Reform Efforts Funded

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the official domestic antipoverty agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has approved special grants totaling $800,000 to mobilize Catholics on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform and to prepare Catholic institutions to serve communities benefiting from the reform legislation. “These grants represent a distinctively Catholic contribution in promoting comprehensive immigration reform. They will strengthen the capacity of our institutions to help immigrant families come out from the shadows and participate more actively in American society,” said Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ C.C.H.D. subcommittee, on March 5. The grants will support efforts to promote immigration reform by Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.; PICO National Network; and the Justice for Immigrants Campaign, a U.S.C.C.B. initiative that works to educate Catholics on church teaching about immigration and to promote immigration reform.