Friday, November 9, 2007

POSADA & the Posadas Project



POSADA & the Posadas Project-
Celebrating our Faith, Telling Our Stories of Hospitality and Solidarity with Migrants this Advent. By Mark McGregor, S.J.


In a search for shelter, one can knock on many doors before being invited in. This story of Joseph and Mary, as celebrated in Las Posadas, is also the story of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant youth who seek to be reunited with family or to find safety here in the U.S. This story is the story of many Latino immigrants who identify so directly with the Mexican Advent procession that is Las Posadas. This knocking is the story that many immigrants across the world know to well. At the heart of Las Posadas is the joyous and profound message of the Incarnation - that God has crossed over every border to make a home with humanity. This message is the heart of POSADA, an award winning documentary on unaccompanied immigrant children.

Last month the 10th annual Cinema and Religion International Film Festival awarded its "Religion and Human Rights Award" to POSADA. I am Mark McGregor, a Jesuit priest who is at Santa Clara University. I directed and produced POSADA as a response to the Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform. I invite you to view POSADA's trailer; to learn about how faith and justice speak to the hearts and minds, especially in young people. I also invite you to join a project that aims at getting people to participate in Las Posadas and to advocate for immigrants this Advent.

My motivation to do POSADA came out of a conversation with Amalia Molina, author of "The Power of Love/El Poder del Amor" her autobiographical account of when she and her husband Jose were detained for over 16 months in an immigration detention center. When I asked Amalia about her openness to tell her powerful story, she replied, "Mark, primero los jovenes." "Mark, first the youth." That began the pre-production of POSADA in the late summer of 2005. I knew that I wanted to portray a hopeful portrait of migrant youth in what was a time of sparse hope. I knew three youth who came to the U.S. from Central America and are living symbols of hope, and I invited them to tell their stories in POSADA.

POSADA was shot on location in Southern California and Mexico in 2005 and early 2006. I meant it as a way of telling the stories of immigrants. I meant it to respond to a question posed to Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" The whole debate on immigration was then, and is still now dominated by another question, "Who is the illegal?" In telling the stories of Johny, Wilber, Densi and Amalia, POSADA bears witness to profound human rights questions for children as it celebrates faith and justice. You can view POSADA’s two-minute trailer at Loyola Productions, Inc. website, www.loyolaproductions.com. To order a copy of Posada, call (310) 398-4281, or order via the above listed website.

In addition to my work leading the production of POSADA, I am Coordinator of the Posadas Project. This a nation-wide project that promotes participation in Las Posadas and links this journey of faith to advocate for immigrants, especially to children. I produced and directed Posada, a film that weaves the stories of unaccompanied immigrant children and Las Posadas. In the Posadas Project I offer you an enthusiastic invitation to share the faith and to tell our stories of faith and justice, and I have some resources to share with you to help your community to the hospitality and solidarity of Las Posadas. Why turn to Las Posadas?

“I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.”
The Church offers compelling reasons for immigration reform, and the moral voice founded in the person of Jesus Christ and in encountering Christ in the migrant is unshakable. Las Posadas articulates this in an active communal experience. As part of the liturgical season, it is, at some level, familiar to all who follow Christ.
It speaks to the Church’s immigrant heritage and celebrates it in light of faith. While it has been part of Mexican and Mexican-American Advent celebrations for centuries, it opens up a spiritual journey beyond nationalities. Las Posadas retells the Christmas story as a communal experience, it helps people to find themselves in that story and engages them in questions of charity and justice.



Procession: the Church’s way of awaking the imagination
In the spring of 2006 Church efforts motivated millions to attend rallies that called for immigration reform. Envision, an Advent when millions process in candlelit in America’s neighborhoods and public spaces, walking with Joseph, Mary and their guardian angel. As the procession moves between houses, people pray the rosary or sing “Angels We have Heard on High.” Imagine the laughter when piñatas are broken and festive food is shared after the procession has found posada at a welcoming home. Now is the time to organize peaceful, faith-led celebrations across this land.

Announcing Good News: The Angels Award
Envisage every diocese publicly recognizing people and organizations who have been outstanding in their advocacy, service or accompaniment of immigrants. The Posadas Project will recognize a person and organization for such witness with the “Angels Award.” The Project proposes that each diocese, parish or organization recognize persons and organizations for such witness with the “Angels Award.”

Posadas Project resources to help celebrate Las Posadas
A bilingual website: http://www.posadas-project.com/ provides information and resources, including interactive features, forums and pages to help organizations hold Las Posadas. In the coming months there will be more educational resources made available. The “In 2007” page allows people to input specific information about celebrating Las Posadas. The links vary from fun links, like how to build a piñata and links about scripture and immigrants. I am very much interested in hearing from you, as you may also be another resource who can inform friends, neighbors and family about the Posadas Project. Please share this with leaders in your faith community. Let’s join our voices and walk the walk.



The Posadas Project invites every:
A) diocese to celebrate Las Posadas this Advent, especially on the weekend of December 22 and 23;
B) bishop to celebrate Las Posadas locally or in a region;
C) diocesan JFI or social justice committee to name and give Angel Awards;

The Posadas Project is independent of but fully supportive of the Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform. Based at Santa Clara University’s Bannan Center for Jesuit Education, I will be working with professors, students and advocates here and in the community to build solidarity with immigrants through storytelling, media arts and advocacy.

We have a month before Advent begins and six weeks before the start of Las Posadas. Let’s not rely on the media to take the lead in telling our stories of faith and justice. We can however, tell journalists of our stories through the Angels Award winners and of many celebrations of Las Posadas that will be celebrated in the U.S. and many other places in North America. See you at Las Posadas!

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