Texas, Mexico Bishops Meet In El Paso To Discuss Mexico Violence, Other Issues
Ten Roman Catholic bishops from Texas and Mexico have gathered in El Paso to discuss various issues affecting the church, including border violence.
Other items to be discussed during the three-day meeting include issues of border security, violence, discrimination, and human rights violations against immigrants, according to the Catholic News Service. This is the Sun City’s first time hosting the biannual meeting. Thursday is the last day of the bishops’ meeting.
After a Mass for the bishops, Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, said they had established some norms — specifically, some streamlined guidelines for marriage preparations.
“It’s important that we have the same requirements along the border in regards to marriage preparation. That’s been a big issue for us,” Flores told ABC-7.
The violence in Mexico has been discussed by the bishops, but Flores did not spell out specific initiatives discussed at the meeting aimed at helping to stop the causes of violence in Mexico, but he said it was definitely part of the discussion.
“(The violence) is an ongoing concern. We’re strategizing together right now,” said Flores.
On Wednesday afternoon, the bishops took a break from their meetings to attend a special Peace and Justice Ministry Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Downtown El Paso with all of the bishops and dozens of others attending. Gloria Rodriguez, a nun from El Paso, was one of them.
She said the church should step in to help people in El Paso’s sister city, Ciudad Juarez.
“When people are suffering, something has to be done. Just seeing (this meeting take place), I feel hopeful,” Rodriguez said.
Flores added that education is key and that their approach is focused on a type of healing through learning — starting with the bishops themselves.
“One of the great blessings of this kind of meeting is we learn a lot from what the Mexican bishops’ pastoral initiatives are and they learn a lot from what our pastoral initiatives are and we try to put them together,” said Flores.
Bishop Alonso Garza Trevino of Piedras Negras, Mexico, told the Catholic News Service earlier this week that the bishops share “pastoral concerns for the well-being of our families and our society.”
He lamented the suffering of the innocent, especially among immigrants, because of “the dynamic of criminal violence that weighs upon our communities.”
“Due to the lack of security, people who live on the border in Mexico and want to attend weddings, baptisms and other sacramental celebrations on the American side with their family members who live there are afraid to cross the border,” he continued. “This is happening a lot, and we hope to come to an agreement on the establishing of some norms.”
The next Texas-Mexico Border Meeting of Bishops will likely be sometime in September.
Related Link: Biannual Texas-Mexico Border Meeting Of Bishops Photos
