“I become better—a better bishop and a better priest, and better to my men—precisely because I want to generate love for the migrant who’s passing through this diocese,” says Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima. “We’ve got to find a way of preaching and teaching that better.”

Reflecting on the final document of the synod, Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon proposes four marks of a synodal church: relating, listening, discerning and self-emptying.

“The threat of mass deportations is untenable and immoral and demands a credible response,” Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, wrote in an open letter to “all people of faith and everyone committed to the common good.”

The Trump administration “immediately terminated” its contract with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for refugee resettlement, effective Feb. 27, according to letters issued by the U.S. State Department a day earlier.

Areas for possible dialogue between the church and the Trump administration included anti-human-trafficking efforts, the status of Dreamers and the right of a nation to control its borders.

“The conference suddenly finds itself unable to sustain its work to care for the thousands of refugees who were welcomed into our country and assigned to the care of the USCCB by the government after being granted legal status.”