CULTURAL RICHNESS Catholics from a variety of cultures gathered for the Migrant Mass on Jan. 15 at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Yucaipa.
People of a variety of cultural backgrounds gathered at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church on Jan. 15 for the annual Migrant Mass, hosted by the diocesan Department of Life, Dignity and Justice.
Many attendees wore cultural dress, and a variety of languages were represented throughout the Mass in the readings, prayers of the faithful, the homily and the music.
“It’s so wonderful to see many of you dressed in your cultural dresses and just to see the composition of the richness of who we are as the United States,” said Bishop Alberto Rojas, who was the principal celebrant of the Mass.
“You enrich us with the good that you bring from your cultures, from your countries,” Bishop Rojas told the congregation.
The Bishop asserted that, in fact, everyone is a migrant, even if they didn’t immigrate here from another country. “We are migrants in this world because we are not from the world. We came from God, and we’re passing into our final destination,” he said.
Bishop Rojas also acknowledged during his homily the many serious challenges that immigrants face, from the difficulties of crossing the border to navigating our broken immigration system, and asked the congregation to pray that all migrants may be treated with “respect and human dignity.”
After Mass, attendees gathered in the parish hall for a meal and fellowship.