St. Francis of Assisi

Parish

  • Home
    • Meet Our Pastor & Team
    • Letters of Good Standing
    • Sacraments
    • Bulletins
    • Annual Reports
    • Parish Pastoral Plan
    • Contact Us
  • I’m New
    • Join Our Parish
    • Stewardship
    • Becoming Catholic
    • Career Opportunities
  • Sign Up Forms
  • Serve
    • Gifts-Works
    • Service
      • Food Drives
      • Shelter Programs
      • Sustainable Garden
      • Gardening & Grounds
      • Jail & Prison Ministry
      • St. Vincent Service Ministry
      • Support Ministries
    • Advocacy
      • Racial Justice
        • Martin Luther King Day
      • Immigration
      • Help for Moms
      • Pro-Life Advocacy
      • Faithful Citizenship
      • Sustainability Project
    • Support Ministries
    • Career Opportunities
  • Giving
    • Online Donation
    • Assisi Center
    • Contribution Statements
  • Parish School
  • Religious Education
    • First Communion Sacramental Prep
    • First Reconciliation
    • Confirmation
    • Classes PreK-8
      • Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
    • Vacation Bible School
  • Music & Worship
    • Worship Schedule
    • Liturgical Ministries
    • Music Ministry
  • Adult Faith Formation
    • Becoming Catholic
    • Bible Study
    • Current Events
  • Fellowship
    • Small Groups
    • Women’s Faith & Fellowship
    • Men’s Ministry
    • Mom’s Ministry
    • Senior Citizens
  • Service
    • Support Ministries
      • Homebound Ministry
      • Stephen Ministry
      • Help For Moms
        • Pro-Life Advocacy
      • Elizabeth Ministry
      • Tax Help
    • Help For Moms
    • Food Drives
    • Shelter Programs
    • St. Vincent Service Ministry
      • Donations of any items
      • Gardening & Grounds
      • Sustainable Garden
      • Advent Giving Tree & Christmas Re-Gift Box
    • Jail & Prison Ministry
    • Advent Giving Tree & Christmas Gifts
  • Life & Justice
    • Peace & Justice Articles
      • Sustainability Project
    • Pro-Life Advocacy
      • Help For Moms
      • Life
    • Racial Justice
      • Martin Luther King Day
    • Immigration
    • Donations & Almsgiving
      • Lenten Almsgiving
  • Pilgrimages
You are here: Home / Immigration

Immigration

St. Francis of Assisi Parish Immigration Project

We seek to address immigration issues & justice for immigrants.

 


A Pastoral Note To Migrants:

As immigrant families across the state experience anxiety and fear over mass deportations, the Catholic bishops in Michigan issued a pastoral note offering continued prayerful support for migrant individuals and families and to promote unyielding respect for the human dignity of all migrant people.
Read The Pastoral Note to Migrants from the Catholic Bishops in Michigan 
https://stfrancisa2.com/pastoral-note-to-migrants
https://www.micatholic.org/advocacy/news-room/news-releases/2025/a-pastoral-note-to-migrants/

https://www.stfrancisa2.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/A-Pastoral-Note-to-Migrants.202501221319.pdf

Immigration:  Resources to Know Your Rights!!

Immigration: RESOURCES for COMMUNITY GROUPS

Resources: National Immigration Law Center


Immigration Survey:  Click Here to Take the Survey and Share your Ideas on Improving our

“If you hold my hand, no one will be able to take you away from me.”

 approach to immigrants! 


World Day of Migrants & Refugees:
Support & Participate in Mass (in Spanish) !!

Pope Francis initiated the last Sunday of September as World Day of Migrants & Refugees, a day to recall and pray for the many people whose lives have been affected during these years of crises, upheavals, violence, and intense poverty.


2025 February 26th…Book Discussion…The Truth About Immigration…



Dear St. Francis Parish:   Our partner, Jewish Family Services wrote 2021-12: “Thank you again so much for all of the incredible donations and gift cards for the Afghan refugees! Community support such as yours truly sustains the Resettlement program and helps us set up warm and welcoming homes for refugee families. We can’t thank you enough.”     The JFS is now helping 300 Afghan families settle in the Ann Arbor area. If you would like to continue to help, Here is the JFS website link summarizing current needs:  https://jfsannarbor.org/resettlement-integration-services/

Immigration Survey:  Click Here to Take the Survey and Share your Ideas on Improving our approach to immigrants! 


At St. Francis Parish, these last few years have seen a rapid growth in the Hispanic portion of our community.  Our St. Francis Parish welcomes your contributions to help through our Immigrant Assistance Fund here!

If you are seeking legal assistance contact the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in Ypsilanti  – MIRC – (734-239-6863)  www.michiganimmigrant.org

Our parish also works collaboratively with Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (WICIR) who provides assistance to immigrants whose family members have been detained and/or deported as a result of raids by the U.S. Immigration Enforcement and Customs Agency. The assistance includes legal assistance, counseling, housing assistance, and help in locating the family members who have been detained or deported.


Call Ann Arbor office: Michigan Immigrant Rights Center – MIRC  (734-239-6863), if you are seeking legal assistance, for immigration-related questions and matters, and, see if you qualify for low cost Legal aid.  See: https://michiganimmigrant.org/contact-info

The vast majority of these undocumented immigrants/individuals are here solely to work hard in order to support their families. Now, globalization, which promotes the free movement of capital and corporations across borders, but not labor, has contributed to the forces driving migration. There are some “work visa” programs, but, the programs do not begin to satisfy U.S. employers’ demand for unskilled, low-wage labor.

“In the Church no one is a stranger, and the Church is not foreign to anyone, anywhere. As a sacrament of unity and thus a sign and a binding force for the whole human race, the Church is the place where ‘illegal’ immigrants are also recognized and accepted as brothers and sisters. It is the task of the various Dioceses actively to ensure that these people, who are obliged to live outside the safety net of civil society, may find a sense of brotherhood in the Christian community.” – Pope John Paul II for World Migration Day, 1996

The U.S. Catholic Bishops have stated that the only humane solution to the immigration issue is Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation. The Life, Peace and Justice Committee of St. Francis supports the work of WICIR.


Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be involved in an
immigration raid?    To have family members deported? What happens to them? What happens to those they leave behind? What is the long-term impact on children involved?

Earlier this year, 2020, the St. Francis Life, Peace & Justice Committee read and discussed the book “Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid“ by William D. López (Lopez).  The book is about an immigration raid that occurred here in Ann Arbor in November 2013. It uses this raid to show what immigration enforcement looks like from the perspective of those who experience it.



In May 2017 St. Francis hosted…

“If you hold my hand, no one will be able to take you away from me.”

"If you hold my hand, no one will be able to take you away from me."
“If you hold my hand, no one will be able to take you away from me.”

By taking a close look at an immigration home raid that occurred in Washtenaw County, this presentation asks you to consider who is affected by immigration enforcement, in what ways, and what we, as Catholics, are called to do about it.

Parishioner, William López, talked about his work, which focuses on the effects of immigration raids on Latino families and communities. William Lopez received his PhD in Public Health from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.   William López is a University of Notre Dame alumnus, and the event was supported by the Notre Dame Club of Ann Arbor.


Questions? Contact: St. Francis Parish Office (734-821-2121) justice@stfrancisa2.org


For more information see:

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in Ypsilanti  – MIRC

Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights

USCCB – Justice for Immigrants

2011 December Congratulations Lourdes

CONTACT US

BULLETIN

MASS TIMES

SIGN UP FORMS

CALENDAR

MAP DIRECTIONS

© Copyright St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Ann Arbor, Michigan · Powered by 501Websites · LOGIN