As Washington mulls reform, Bishop DiMarzio honors immigrants
On any given Sunday, mass is celebrated in 32 different languages in Catholic churches in the Diocese of Brooklyn, according to diocese officials, who said immigrants settling here have brought from their native countries a strong religious tradition.
On April, 14, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio celebrated mass in honor of immigrants at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint James in downtown Brooklyn. Called a Catholic Migration Mass, the event took place as lawmakers in Washington DC were considering comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
US Senator Charles Schumer, one of the so-called “gang of eight” senators working on a compromise bill to address the situation of undocumented immigrants, attended the migration mass. “America is a nation of immigrants and nowhere is this more true than here in the great Diocese of Brooklyn, under the leadership of immigration advocate second-to none, Bishop DiMarzio,” Schumer said.