Joining other religious groups pushing for immigration reform, 26 Roman Catholic orders in Chicago announced a new lobbying campaign Friday, promising to flood lawmakers in Washington with 6,000 phone calls, e-mails and personal visits over the next six weeks.
The Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants is a newly formed network of nuns and monks from the Chicago area. Appealing to the biblical mandate to “welcome the stranger,” they hope to garner more sympathy for immigrant issues, organizers said.
“Many of us are already working with immigrants, and we realized that we have strength in numbers,” said group member Sister Bernadine Karge during a news conference at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.
The network will collaborate with another Chicago group, the Priests for Justice for Immigrants, as part of a Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform, officials said.