CMFN coordinates annual Episcopal Visits that connect Catholic Bishops from the US and Mexico directly with migrant farmworkers in the communities where they live and work. Each week-long visit touches 500-800 migrants in their workplaces, homes and churches for Eucharist celebrations and listening sessions. The CMFN National Coordinator accompanies Bishops on these visits and also makes several Pastoral Visits annually to rural immigrant areas around the USA.
Bishop Florencio Armando Colin Cruz from Mexico celebrates mass with Mexican workers and families in Michigan.
These Pastoral and Episcopal Visits promote awareness of the migrant reality among Church leadership, bring the presence of the Church to the often-isolated migrant people, and create connections among those working to meet the pastoral and temporal needs of migrant farm workers.
The Goals of CMFN’s Episcopal Visits are…
1. To listen to the stories of our brothers and sisters who are migrant farmworkers or rural agricultural workers in mission dioceses of the United States and to learn about their daily challenges, working conditions and the contributions they are making in the US.
2. To bring the blessings and prayers of the Roman Catholic Church communities to the agricultural workers and gather with them in prayer, discussion, visiting their work sites, and homes in one or several dioceses.
3. To engage with the local Bishop in each diocese, as well as pastoral agents, and migrant outreach volunteers and migrant farmworker agencies to discuss ways to collaborate and advocate for the pastoral and social needs of the farmworkers in the diocese.
View a list of Dioceses that have been visited through this program in the past.
Contact CMFN if you are interested in hosting an Episcopal Visit in your diocese.