Insights on GC 32 Decree 4 from Migrant Accompaniment on the US-Mexico Border

My vocation surfaced most profoundly during a volunteer year I spent in Durban, South Africa working at an AIDS hospice, elementary school, and boys home. It was a powerful formation in the promotion of justice.

Later, as a Jesuit novice reading decree 4 of General Congregation 32, I was immediately inspired by the opening salvo: “the mission of the Society of Jesus today is the service of the faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement.”^[1] Reading how we as Jesuits must “recognize and respect the rights of all, especially the poor and the powerless, but also to work actively to secure those rights. . . . The promotion of justice is an integral part of the priestly service of the faith,” I could not help but think of the life-saving impact of access to antiretroviral treatment for AIDS patients.^[2] My entrance into the Society was not an end to my work for justice but a new and exciting opportunity.

A decade later, I was ordained a priest in June of 2021. For my first mission after ordination, I was sent to the diocese of Brownsville, Texas to respond to local pastoral needs. It was an opportunity to put this call into direct action, and that is exactly what we worked to do. We formalized our mission as Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries, with a focus on providing sacramental ministry and pastoral care to the migrant population on both sides of the Mexico–United States border. Principally, this means that we visit migrant camps and shelters to celebrate Mass and accompany the people. There, we have encountered an acute need for spiritual care among an extremely vulnerable population that has suffered tremendously, from robberies and extortion to kidnappings and physical and sexual violence. I have found it such an emotionally moving experience to gather in a shelter or camp, often just setting up our portable Mass kit on a folding table as an altar, to celebrate the Eucharist with the wounded migrants we encounter.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson that I have learned in the four years I have spent on the border involves how the service of faith to the most vulnerable itself represents an act of promoting justice. Our priestly charism calls us to sacramental ministry, and often the poor and vulnerable themselves experience the greatest limitations in their access to the sacraments. Pope Francis summarizes this best when he writes: “I want to say, with regret, that the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. . . . Our preferential option for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.”^[3]

These words of the late Pope Francis inspire me greatly in our ministry on the border as I think about the depth of faith in the migrants I encounter and how meaningful I have found offering the sacraments in the context of a migrant camp or shelter. Of course, the lament of Pope Francis over the lack of spiritual care for the poor can resonate in any area of Jesuit ministry: parishes where non-English speaking groups feel like second class citizens, Catholic schools where the poor cannot afford to attend or encounter a culture where they struggle to fit in, or retreat centers where the poor find themselves limited by financial or opportunity costs to attend retreats. In the face of these realities, we must continue to look in all our Jesuit ministries for ways to offer privileged and preferential religious care to the poor and vulnerable.

In fact, our ability to offer religious care can set us apart from non-religious actors also working for justice. We learned this lesson early on in our ministry at the border. When Fr. Louie Hotop (ucs) and I began visiting a new migrant camp in the plaza of Reynosa, Mexico in 2021, we immediately encountered the acute humanitarian needs, because these needs always appear the most obvious and evident. As we met non-governmental organizations providing similar aid, however, we reflected more on what we uniquely could offer, and so we decided to celebrate Mass. It started small, with just a few people we had invited to join; but within months, an entire community of faith had formed, including designated lectors and a guitar-led choir. In March 2022, we even held listening sessions with the migrant community in the plaza to participate in the synod on synodality. Francis, an asylum seeker from El Salvador, shared that, “When we arrived here on the border, we were hopeless, and honestly not sure what we would do—go back or give up—but the Church was here. The Eucharist strengthens us and gives life to us.” His wife Deysi added, “When we started participating in Mass, it awoke something that was dead inside of me. It gave me the strength to keep going.”

The testimonies of Francis and Deysi indicate that the service of faith to the most vulnerable itself stands as an act of justice. Moreover, as we have seen in our ministry, while the promotion of justice can begin with the service of faith and access to the sacraments, it should not end there. When we put ourselves at the service of faith with the most vulnerable, we lose that insulation from the poor that GC 32 laments.^[4] And when we drop our insulation and find ourselves in regular close contact with the poor, we grow in solidarity and feel compelled to promote justice. For example, when we see the suffering of migrants on the border, as in a woman eight months pregnant with anemia sleeping on the ground in a tent, we do not limit our ministry to celebrating Mass at the shelter and waving goodbye. Instead, we start contacting local authorities to find a way to get adequate prenatal and birthing care as soon as possible. In other words, we see the urgent need and find ourselves moved to act. And while policies may prevent our advocacy efforts from bearing fruit, we remain committed to the promotion of justice through these initiatives.

Furthermore, these experiences evangelize us as Jesuits. Moments after Chief Justice Roberts swore Donald Trump into office, the border closed to asylum seekers, including people we knew who had appointments scheduled to enter the country legally. The very next day, we visited people in shelters in Reynosa, most of whom had had their appointments canceled. After Mass, we asked people to share how they felt. They responded: “Devastated.” “Heartbroken.” “Terrified.” One woman, Sandra, raised her hand from the back of the room. “La esperanza es lo último que se pierde”—“Hope is the last thing we lose.” She spoke these words despite the fact that she had waited over seven months to get an appointment, and now the government had canceled it.

Sandra, like so many migrants we encounter, clearly turns to her faith as a source of strength and hope. As such, she does not place her hope in a smartphone app that schedules appointments or in a politician and political party. Instead, she places her hope in Jesus Christ. As such, her faith itself evangelizes. For example, Sandra’s words remind me that, amid the despair, we should not let fear win: we must hold onto hope, because the Lord does not abandon us. Indeed, Jesus came to free us from sin and death, to accompany us in our own passion, and to offer us eternal life with him. I can think of no greater act for the promotion of justice.

And so, the words of decree 4 continue to resound in our world today. As such, I hope and pray that as members of the Society we continue to live out this call and remain rooted in our service of the faith and the promotion of justice, marked by a particular closeness with the poor and vulnerable. For when we draw near to the poor and remove the insulation that shields us from their reality, we find a warm and eager welcome to gather in prayer and in the celebration of the sacraments. Indeed, we see on the faces of those gathered around us the reality that the service of faith is itself the promotion of justice, and closeness to the poor evangelizes us and further compels our efforts for justice.

Notes:

^[1]  GC 36, d. 4, no. 48; Jesuit Life and Mission Today: The Decrees and Accompanying Documents of the 31st–35th General Congregations of the Society of Jesus, ed. John W. Padberg, SJ (St. Louis, MO: The Institute of Jesuit Sources [IJS], 2009), 298.

^[2]  GC 35, d. 4, no. 67; Jesuit Life and Mission Today, ed. Padberg, 301.

^[3]  Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (November 24, 2013) § 200, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html.

^[4]  GC 35, d. 4, nos. 97–98; Jesuit Life and Mission Today, ed. Padberg, 309.

APA

Strassburger, B. A., S.J. (2025). Insights on GC 32 Decree 4 from migrant accompaniment on the US-Mexico border. Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, 57(2), 29–32. https://doi.org/10.6017/ssj.v57i2.20613

CMOS

Strassburger, Brian A., S.J. “Insights on GC 32 Decree 4 from Migrant Accompaniment on the US-Mexico Border.” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits 57, no. 2 (2025): 29–32. https://doi.org/10.6017/ssj.v57i2.20613.

MLA

Strassburger, Brian A., S.J. “Insights on GC 32 Decree 4 from Migrant Accompaniment on the US-Mexico Border.” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, vol. 57, no. 2, 2025, pp. 29–32. https://doi.org/10.6017/ssj.v57i2.20613.

Turabian

Strassburger, Brian A., S.J. “Insights on GC 32 Decree 4 from Migrant Accompaniment on the US-Mexico Border.” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits 57, no. 2 (2025): 29–32. https://doi.org/10.6017/ssj.v57i2.20613.