SHE exuded passion and love for her ministry to undocumented migrants as she spoke powerfully to the participants of the Biennial Consultation of the Association of Theological Field Education last week in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “Jesus is a migrant too,” she proclaimed, “and so we need to treat migrants, those who illegally cross the US borders, with the love of Jesus.” One could feel her profound care and concern for poor undocumented migrants. She moved everyone’s heart as she spoke of their human rights and dignity.
Her name is Bishop Minerva Garza Carcaño, the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the episcopacy of The United Methodist Church, and now serving as Bishop of the Los Angeles Episcopal Area. For many years, she had advocated for a just and humane immigration reform. As spokesperson for the United Methodist Council of Bishops on this controversial issue, she has, indeed, become the face of those who advocate for justice for poor illegal immigrants.
She has directly helped poor illegal US border-crossers from Mexico and Central America by offering them food, clothing, medical and legal assistance and by accompanying those deported back to Mexico. Her speeches are filled with anecdotes of migrants she encounters: those who die of hunger and thirst as they walk the desert of Arizona; Central American children who cross Mexico to the US borders via the deadly train which people call “La Bestia” or The Beast; parents who are tragically separated from their children. As she narrates these anecdotes, one cannot help but become overwhelmed with emotion or moved to tears.
Bishop Minerva Carcaño is a living example of someone who exercises her prophetic call or ministry passionately and zealously. She is a woman of courage who speaks the uncomfortable truth of the Gospel.
Her authority comes not simply from her role as a bishop of her faith tradition. It comes fundamentally from her deep relationship with Jesus of the Scriptures who put the poor and the marginalized people at the center of his ministry. Like Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope Francis, her authority emanates from seeing Jesus in the poor, the sick, and the oppressed.
In the Book of Deuteronomy on this Sunday’s Mass, the Lord spoke to Moses for the people of Israel, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth.” Absolutely, Bishop Minerva is one of the prophets that God has raised in this present time to speak his words of love, justice, and care for the poor migrants. Like Jesus in the Gospel, she and her church are called to expel demons of poverty, injustice, and human indignity.
May we too be courageous prophets who will not stop denouncing poverty, inequality, injustice, corruption and inhumane treatment of people around the world! May our words come from a deep conviction that the poor and the suffering are at the center of the Gospel of Christ, Our Lord and Savior!
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
