Greensburg Diocese, Welcomes Refugees, as Pope Francis pleads

“ALL ARE WELCOME” was the processional hymn at the 7:30 am Sunday Mass at Mother of Sorrows, Murrysville, PA on September 27th. It reminds us that half of the priests ordained in 1967 were from outside the Diocese, welcomed to minister here. More recently Our Diocese has welcomed many Filipino priests to minister here for a time. And most recently the Diocese welcomed you as its new bishop who came to us from across Pennsylvania’s great mountain divide.

The congregation at MOS then prayed that “…refugees find a new community….” This prayer was not for those stepping across the Allegheny-Westmoreland County line as they moved into their McMansions to live more comfortably with “their own kind.” It’s for that flood of immigrants who are getting out of war-torn Middle East Countries as happened especially in the 1980’s and 1990’s as refugees fled the “low intensity wars” in Central America and continues to this day as the violence threatens children and their families in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

We who sign this petition propose that our Greensburg Diocese help these specific refugees and immigrants “find a new community” right here in our four county local Church. To that end let’s communicate to The Department of Home Land Security through our elected Congressional Representatives that Catholic Charities of the Greensburg Diocese will agree to receive and settle at least eight families – two for each of the Four Counties -- half from the Middle East and half from Central America as our response to Pope Francis’ remarks before the U.S. Congress on September 24th.