The spirit of generosity was clearly demonstrated during our recent Synod Assembly. In this post we share the results of our collective efforts, with our offering worship contributing to nearly $5,000 to ELCA World Hunger and First Call Theological Education, and a bounty of rice, beans, and flour to donate to La Casa de la Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones in Nogales, Mexico.
Read MoreWe welcome Sister Lika Macias as our special guest at the 2023 Grand Canyon Synod Assembly.
She is the Director of La Casa de la Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones in Nogales, Mexico.
Read MoreOver the last 9 months, your support has made it possible for 889 residents at our partner shelter, La Casa de Misericordia y de Todas Naciones, to take the next steps in their immigration journeys. Of the 889 residents, 439 are children under the age of 17; all school-age children that, we pray, will be enrolling for school this coming fall and taking some important first steps toward a new future.
Read MoreIn this report, Rev. David Chavez shares a video (English with Spanish subtitles) on the joint Episcopal/Lutheran Borderlands ministry, and we also share a slideshow from Cruzando Fronteras and Casa de la Misericordia y de Todos las Naciones.
Read MoreChurches of the Northeast Valley Consortium loaded to a huge van full of food and baby necessities and delivered them to Casa de La Misericordia in Nogales, Mexico, which provides sanctuary for asylum seekers awaiting processing at the border. In this post we share photos of the trip.
Read MoreIn this updates we share photos from last week’s “Synod on the Move,” where a number of the Office of the Bishop staff traveled to southern Arizona for a variety of events. We also share what the team is up to in the upcoming days.
Read MoreAs part of Synod on the Move, Bishop Hutterer, Rev. Jacqui Pagel, and Rev. Pat Reed journey to southern Arizona this weekend for a variety of events, including the Installation of Rev. Michael Sager at Desert Hills Lutheran in Green Valley, gathering with active pastors and deacons and Hotel Congress, conversations with retired rostered ministers at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, as well as preaching at Santa Cruz, Abounding Grace, Mt. Zion, and attending other meetings.
We also share photos from Bishop Hutterer’s visits last week to Mount of Olives in Phoenix and Casa De La Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones (House of Mercy and of All Nations) in Nogales, a service of Cruzando Fronteras.
Read MoreFor folk musician Joe Troop, a 2019 visit to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands opened his eyes to the suffering experienced by migrants trying to enter the United States. Two years later, he returned to Nogales, to volunteer at a migrant shelter with Cruzando Fronteras.
The experience that inspired him to write a song, Mercy for Migrants, performed with Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn and Trey Boudreaux. Read the article in Episcopal News Service and hear the song on YouTube.
Read MoreWe share an update from Pastor Sarah Isakson, with Faith Lutheran in Phoenix, who along with many others in our synod are part of the Cruzando Fronteras network.
Thank you for your support and prayers! More than 250 asylum seeking residents of the shelter are now crossing legally into the United States. Most have been working as community residents for over a year.
Cruzando Fronteras has speakers who are available to do Zoom presentations to your congregations all summer! Please contact: Paztorsarah@gmail.com.
Read MoreArizona 360 provides this news video on shelters along the Arizona border for migrants with Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) cases. Cruzando Fronteras is part of that support network.
“Across Arizona’s southern border, nonprofits and religious organizations continue to support asylum seekers who have waited months to present their cases in the United States. Tony Paniagua traveled to Nogales, Sonora where he visited a shelter providing aid and spoke to migrants about their journeys.”
Read MoreWhat has this full communion agreement meant for our churches over these twenty years?
We’ve worshipped together in joint celebrations and shared liturgies and developed a deep familiarity and appreciation for each other’s liturgies and confession of the faith.
Read MoreRev. Rodger A. Babnew, Jr., with Cruzando Fronteras, shares this letter asking our help in celebrating Christmas with families waiting in Nogales.
We also share his September 2020 video report.
Read MoreAt La Roca, the shelter I visited last week, children, women and men went to the border and stood in line. Once they received a number they could stay at La Roca while they waited for their number to be called. Cruzando Fronteras (a Lutheran-Episcopal ministry) supports this shelter.
Refugees who have been processed in the U.S. and await their court date are released. In Phoenix last week about 200 were released each day. With ICE lacking the capacity for growing asylee numbers, families have been released to churches in Phoenix for temporary and transitional shelter until they are capable of traveling to their final destination. Currently, there are not enough churches to accommodate the increasing numbers of asylum-seekers, and these families are being released on the street and at bus stations, with no means to continue their journey. Many would label this a humanitarian crisis, and as God’s people we can step in make a difference.
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