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On the eve of President Joe Biden’s Sunday visit to the US-Mexico border to meet with local officials and border enforcement agents, the US Catholic bishops announced their opposition to the administration’s recent crackdown on illegal immigration to the United States. Biden announced Thursday that the US will step up enforcement at the border and begin to turn away Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians who try to cross the US-Mexico border illegally. The new rules would also allow up to 30,000 people to come into the US each month from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti. Migrants would be able to come for two years and receive work authorization, provided they have an eligible sponsor and can pass vetting and background checks. In his statement, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso declared the bishops’ opposition to the new rules on the grounds that those fleeing violence have a right to seek safety in the US. “We urge the administration to reverse its present course in favor of humane solutions that recognize the God-given dignity of migrants and provide equitable access to immigration and humanitarian pathways,” the bishop said.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253290/us-bishops-urge-biden-administration-to-reverse-its-present-course-on-immigration
Cardinal Joseph Zen met privately with Pope Francis on Friday after attending Benedict XVI’s funeral. The Hong Kong authorities temporarily released the passport of the 90-year-old cardinal, who was arrested last year under the city’s national security law, to allow him to travel to Rome. According to America Magazine, Zen met Pope Francis in the afternoon on January 6, in the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse. The cardinal also posted photos showing him embracing Benedict XVI’s closed coffin and greeting Pope Francis in front of Michelangelo’s Pietà on the morning of the funeral.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253283/cardinal-zen-meets-pope-francis-prays-at-benedict-xvi-s-tomb
The SEEK conference, a major Catholic conference for students, adults, and clergy put on by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), will return to Saint Louis in 2024 for the second year in a row, FOCUS announced late last week. According to FOCUS’ estimate, nearly 19,000 people — students, adults, families, bishops, priests, religious sisters, and more — attended the five-day SEEK23 conference at America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown Saint Louis last week. The conference — now in its 25th year — included workshops, talks, worship, and entertainment. The 2023 gathering was FOCUS’ first fully in-person national conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. FOCUS held a national conference in Indianapolis in 2019 and a smaller student leadership summit in Phoenix in the earliest days of 2020. Conferences for 2021 and 2022 were held online due to the pandemic. FOCUS announced on Thursday evening that the next SEEK will take place January 1-5, 2024, also in Saint Louis, at the same venue.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253277/young-catholics-converge-at-seek23-i-love-seeing-people-fall-in-love-with-jesus
Today, the Church celebrates The Baptism of the Lord. the Church also celebrates Saint Adrian of Canterbury, the famous Abbot of Saint Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, where he established a flourishing monastic school, where many future bishops and abbots were educated in Latin, Greek, scripture, theology, Roman law and arithmetic.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-adrian-of-canterbury-111