WORLD

National Catholic Reporter, April 28, 2000 by Teresa Malcolm, Gerry McCarthy

Mexican bishop stresses pastoral care for migrants

A U.S.-born priest who is now an auxiliary bishop in the Guadalajara, Mexico, archdiocese praised the work of the U.S. Catholic church with Mexican immigrants and stressed the church's obligation to care for their pastoral needs.

Bishop Miguel Romano Gomez, who became auxiliary bishop of Guadalajara April 9, was born in El Paso, Texas. He is the first-born son of a Mexican migrant couple. They returned to Guadalajara a few months after his birth.

Romano, 41, said April 14 his own cross-border experience had given him a "sincere and deeply rooted" interest in the situation of Mexicans who have migrated to the United States.

He praised the pastoral programs of the U.S. and Mexican bishops' conferences that work with Mexican migrants, and noted that some Mexican dioceses try to sustain contact with people who have left.

"The church has an obligation to attend to those who have gone to the northern border or who have crossed it to live on the other side," he said.

Briefs, gathered from news services, correspondents and staff, are compiled and edited by Teresa Malcolm.