The Archdiocese of Milwaukee held a special public moral witness for migrants and refugees in Cathedral Square Park on June 15, calling Catholics and the wider community to see immigration through the Church’s teaching on human dignity, family unity, mercy, and justice.
The gathering, titled “Sacred Journeys: Praying for Migrants and Refugees,” brought church leaders, Catholic sisters, parish representatives, and more than one hundred community members into one of Milwaukee’s most visible civic spaces for an evening of prayer, remembrance, Scripture, and public witness.
Auxiliary Bishop James Schuerman took part in the service, using the parable of the Good Samaritan to frame the evening around vulnerability, mercy, and the moral danger of avoiding those who suffer.
“Church teachings instruct us that every human being has a right to life, and they emphasize the dignity of each life, a dignity that is God-given and holy,” said Bishop Schuerman. “The gospel calls us to discipleship and teaches us what discipleship demands of us, including the love, welcome, and care that we must extend to all, and especially to the most vulnerable.”
Sister Diana DeBruin, OSF, Archdiocesan Vicar for Religious, welcomed those who attended. She then defined the purpose of the evening in direct terms.
“We gather to publicly express our Catholic faith and shared values of dignity of the human person, sanctity and unity of the family, fairness and justice, and community,” said DeBruin. “We gather to pray and bear faithful witness in a particular way for members of the Body of Christ who are on the move — migrants and refugees in search of safety and flourishing.”
The speakers made it clear that immigration was being addressed not as an abstract dispute over political policy, but as a human reality with spiritual and moral consequences.
The Catholic language of the evening did not avoid the public conflict around the issue. But it placed that conflict inside a larger question of conscience, by how people of faith respond when families are displaced, detained, separated, or forced to search for safety beyond their homelands.
“Our faith calls us to respond with prayer, solidarity, and courage,” DeBruin said.
The opening reflection drew from Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, with Steve Szymanski, Director of Social Justice and Child Ministries at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Milwaukee, and Tracy Abler, Justice, Peace, Integrity of Creation Coordinator for the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes in Fond du Lac, alternating as readers.
“May care for our own interests not blind us to the wars, violence, injustice, and extreme weather forcing millions of people to leave their homelands in search of refuge,” said Szymanski.
Abler added to the invocation by describing migrants, refugees, and displaced people as signs of endurance and hope.
“May we see migrants, refugees, and displaced people as messengers of hope in their resilience and trust in God,” said Abler.
Their shared message turned the attention back toward the Church itself, presenting migrants and refugees as reminders of the Church’s own identity as a pilgrim people. That theme, of sacred journey, led into the service’s act of remembrance for people who died while in immigration detention.
“One practice of our Catholic faith is to pray for those who have died,” DeBruin said. “We entrust to God all those who, while seeking a place of safety and hope, died while in immigration detention since the start of 2026.”
Darryl Morin of Forward Latino and Rosalia Vadala, OSF, read each person’s name, age, and country of origin, as a bell tolled between each.
The list included Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, of Cuba; Luis Nunez Caceres, 42, of Honduras; Luis Yanez Cruz, 68, of Honduras; Parady La, 46, of Cambodia; Heber Sanchez Dominguez, 34, of Mexico; Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua; Lorth Sim, 59, of Cambodia; Jairo Garcia Hernandez, 27, of Guatemala; and Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, 48, of Mexico.
The names of the dead were followed by Bishop Schuerman’s homily, which drew on the parable of the Good Samaritan to argue that migrants and refugees are the wounded stranger on the road — and that passing by on the other side is a moral failure, not a neutral act.
“The man on the journey is beaten and left half dead. It’s an image that evokes a sense of extreme vulnerability, danger, and abandonment,” said Bishop Schuerman. “The priest and the Levite see the man but choose to pass by on the other side. They take the long way around him to avoid any contact with him.”
Bishop Schuerman said that people of faith should be disturbed when seeing a climate of fear and anxiety that is inflamed by racial profiling and immigration enforcement. He was saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.
“We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,” said Bishop Schuerman. “We must admit that we have a long way to go, as Pope Francis says, when it comes to accompanying, caring for, and supporting the most frail and vulnerable members of our developed societies.”
The program then returned to the names of people who died in detention. Morin and Vadala read Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi, 59, of Iran; Emmanuel Damas, 56, of Haiti; Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, 41, of Afghanistan; Royer Perez Jimenez, 19, of Mexico; Jose Guadalupe Ramos Solano, 52, of Mexico; Tuan Van Bui, 55, of Vietnam; Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, 49, of Mexico; Aled Carbonell Betancourt, 27, of Cuba; and Denny Adán González, 33, of Cuba.
The evening also moved from prayer toward public action. Tim Hall, Promoter of Justice, Peace and Care of Creation for the Sisters of St. Dominic in Racine, invited participants to contact members of the U.S. Congress about detention conditions and family separation practices, and to sign the Cabrini Pledge.
The Cabrini Pledge is a campaign by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that encourages Catholics to support migrants and refugees through prayer, education, personal encounter, and civic engagement. The pledge is named for St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants and the first U.S. citizen canonized by the Catholic Church.
“At a time when our culture is dominated by deep political divisions and reasonable disagreements about immigration policy, progress can feel impossible,” Hall said. “But by witnessing to the God-given dignity of every person, including the migrants and refugees in our midst, we pave the way for an approach rooted in mercy, justice, and the common good.”
The closing words returned to the language of Catholic witness.
“Where there is fear, make us signs of hope,” said Vadala. “Where there is division, make us instruments of communion. Where dignity is threatened, give us courage to stand in love.”
That message carried beyond Cathedral Square Park. The Archdiocese’s public witness asked Milwaukee to see migrants and refugees through the Catholic commitments named at the start of the evening: human dignity, family unity, justice, and community.
It also called on residents to take responsibility, by responding when any person or people are searching for safety. Through prayer, testimony, and remembrance, organizers challenged the public to consider the human consequences of migration and detention.
At its core, those values reflected a belief that immigration is not solely a matter of law and public policy, but also a test of how a society treats people when they are at their most vulnerable.
“The Lord commanded us to love as He has loved us, and the church’s concern for immigrants is a response to that command,” Bishop Schuerman added. “To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering, since when one member suffers, all suffer. You are not alone. And truly, they will not be alone if we all journey together.
© Photo
Lee Matz
