Day One--House of Bishops

I landed in Phoenix Monday morning and it wasn't long (5 seconds) before I knew I wasn't in WNC anymore.  No gentle hazy Smokey Mountains; no sweet comforting Blue Ridge--it's all sun, shrubs, and stark relief.  I am here for a Pre Conference to our regular House of Bishops meeting to get a better understanding of the issues around the border with Mexico and immigration by experiencing the context. We talk about immigration as if we are in Civics Class, but of course it's about actual people on both sides of the border.  This is not melodrama with clearly defined good guys and bad but a complex dilemma about South and Central and North American economies and legal tangles that inevitably involve families.  Bishops were invited to come and learn from the folks in Arizona who deal with these issues everyday.

Tuesday we will go across the border into Mexico. I will be in a small town, Agua Preita, and visit a Migrant Shelter at a Catholic Church as well as talk to a panel of Mexican Pastors. In the afternoon, we will speak with members of the Border Patrol about their perspective.

Today we drove by a river that has dried completely up.  There is nothing but an indentation of dust.  Bishop Kirk Smith told us that this river was the Mexican border before the Gadsden Purchase---the act whereby the USA bought the sliver of land that enabled us to run a railroad from Texas to California.  It made me wonder about borders and why they are where they are and how they got there.  There is always a story that is never simple as we think it is--just as these issues around immigration are not as simple as we'd like.

Then we came to a house for migrants and immigration issues in  Tuscon, The Restoration Project Community at Casa Mariposa.  When I entered, I introduced myself and the man greeting me said, "Hello, Porter, it's been a long time."  There was this long long pause before my memory clicked--John Boucher and I met in Albuquerque in 2002 at the Center for Contemplation and Action.  I came to the door and expected to meet a stranger--someone who did not want to disclose his or her past--and I met a friend who knew my name before I knew his. 

Maybe the root issue is about our vision.  Maybe we need to get into the sunlight so we can see the stranger more clearly as being connected to our past too.  Maybe we have forgotten our connection and need to rediscover it by seeing each other face to face.

+Porter and John Boucher

Big Sky and Big Country

It was a good day. We drove by some cool sights without stopping (Tombstone Arizona!). I am angling to swap my miter for a cowboy hat.

More tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers as I keep you in mine.
+Porter