Strangers as Neighbors Toolkit: One Parish One Community - A Guide for Engaging United States Catholic Congregations in Difficult Dialogues

The discussion of immigration reform within a faith-based framework can be a contentious issue because of the principle of the separation of Church and state. Researchers at Fairfield University held focus groups at two different Catholic parishes on Long Island, NY, which revealed that tensions mount within congregations when priests introduce political issues directly into religious services. In response to these findings, the researchers created this Toolkit for Catholic congregations to engage in productive, faith-based discussions on immigration outside of formal religious services. Specifically, it provides a six-stage process for facilitating discussion with detailed examples of framing and messaging exercises, relevant Bible verses and prayers, and related Catholic social teachings. The authors recommend using the Toolkit to allow congregation members to move from a polarizing political discourse to one based on a shared humanity extending from the parish to the global community. The Toolkit can also be adapted to broach issues other than immigration. (Karly Foland for The Immigrant Learning Center Public Education Institute)

Download here or view online.