Health Calls Season 6, Episode 12 explores how Catholic ministries across the United States are responding to the growing immigration crisis. Host Brian Reardon and Executive Producer Josh Matejka welcome Bill Canny, Executive Director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Migration, to discuss the national You Are Not Alone campaign.
Health Calls Season 6, Episode 12 explores how Catholic ministries across the United States are responding to the growing immigration crisis. Host Brian Reardon and Executive Producer Josh Matejka welcome Bill Canny, Executive Director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Migration, to discuss the national You Are Not Alone campaign.
Rooted in Catholic social teaching and launched in response to heightened fear among immigrant communities, the initiative offers support to families facing deportation threats, lack of legal protection, and barriers to accessing health care, schools, and parish life. Canny explains how dioceses nationwide are mobilizing volunteers, parish groups, and Catholic health care to provide accompaniment, resources, and reassurance. With fear driving declines in clinic visits and school attendance across many states, this conversation highlights how the Church is uniting for change, standing with vulnerable immigrants, and affirming their dignity during an especially challenging moment.
Resources
Watch the USCCB's Special Pastoral Message on Immigration
Learn more about the You Are Not Alone campaign
Brian Reardon (00:05):
Welcome to Health Calls, the podcast of the Catholic Health Association of the United States. I'm your host, Brian Reardon. With me is Josh Matejka. Hello Josh.
Josh Matejka (00:13):
Hey Brian.
Brian Reardon (00:15):
Our episode is entitled You Are Not Alone Responding to the Immigration Crisis with the USCCB as the title suggests. We're going to talk about immigration and what the Conference of Bishops is addressing on that issue. And so our theme this season has been United for Change. And so I guess, Josh, I would ask you to kind of start us off with how does this episode fit into our overall theme this season of United For Change?
Josh Matejka (00:45):
Yeah, well, I mean United for Change, and this isn't something that we always mention, but United for Change is actually part of a's larger strategic plan, it's one of the pillars of our strategic plan. And really the heart of it comes down to we want to make sure that as a ministry of the Catholic Church, that we are working with all of the other branches, all of our partners across the board to make sure that we are doing everything we can and we are doing everything that is appropriate to enable human flourishing, which is part of our mission statement. And a big part of that is our collegial partners in the USCCB , we've worked with them on so many things over the years and given their leadership voice in this area of immigration and immigration policy, we want to make sure that we are working in lockstep with them and then we are following their lead when it comes to that area. And there have been so many strong messages coming out of the USCCB recently and so many great initiatives and we really want to highlight one of them in this episode because of how powerful it is. And we're really glad that Bill could join us to talk a little bit about that and how everyone in Catholic health care and just everyone as a whole can get involved in making sure that we're enabling human flourishing for our immigrant friends and family.
Brian Reardon (02:06):
And just a moment, we're going to bring in Bill Canny, Executive Director of the Secretariat of Migration at the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. Before we turn to Bill, though, I think we should share that we at CHA, we had what's called an all staff meeting. And back in November following the USCCB conference, we played the video that the bishops put out. And Josh, I think the overwhelming response to that was, wow, this is a powerful message. And really moved us at CHA to say this is an issue that we've cared about in Catholic health care, but the way that the bishops articulated that I think was really powerful.
Josh Matejka (02:45):
Yeah, I mean for those of you who haven't seen it, we will put a link to it in our show notes. It really is very powerful and it's very direct. It very clearly states this is what we value and this is who we value. This is why we value these people and this is what we're going to do about it. And so that's when I talk about following the lead of the USCCB, that strength and that clarity of call to care for immigrants is something we want to emulate and we want to make sure that everybody hears about because it really is, it serves as a rallying cry for all of us.
Brian Reardon (03:19):
Alright, well let's bring in Bill Canny. He's Executive director of the Secretariat of Migration for the USCCB. And Bill, welcome to the show.
Bill Canny (03:30):
Well, thank you very much Brian and Josh, pleasure to be with you today.
Brian Reardon (03:34):
Yeah, so we've been talking about you are not alone, we just mentioned the powerful video, but obviously this campaign is much bigger than a message from the bishop. So I guess to start off with, could you give a little bit of an overview of what this campaign is intended to do?
Bill Canny (03:49):
Well, this campaign is intended to address the current administration's efforts to mass deport immigrants. This is something they talked about when they came in January. We were of course initially stunned by the fact that they stopped the refugee resettlement program, which the USCCB had an important stake in for decades. But after that, they moved on to a program to actually seek out and deport immigrants with the intent to import deport, excuse me, immigrants that were criminals or dangerous. The fact of the matter is we saw early on that they began to arrest, detain and deport immigrants who were not considered dangerous or had engaged in criminal activity. And today some over 70% of folks in detention and slated for possible deportation, over 70% do not have any record of criminal activity. So as that began to be clearer to us last summer, we conceived of this campaign or this initiative called You Are Not Alone, designed to help the immigrants in our country Catholic and otherwise understand that we in the Catholic Church supported them during this particular difficult period.
Brian Reardon (05:39):
And in addition to the policy and the politics and of course all of the media attention on this, I think what's also important to go back to Pop Leo and in November he spoke out very strongly about the way that immigrants are being treated and the policies administrations. How much of Pope Leo's influence perhaps informed this work?
Bill Canny (06:05):
Well again, we had been working on this through the summer and we saw in Los Angeles, for example, in Chicago already what was going on. Pope Leo also began, of course to see it and take an interest. And in November he did say that this campaign by the government seemed to have some inhumane elements to it while he recognizes, as we do at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that a country has the right to control its border and to judiciously apply standards for immigration, we began to see, and he began to see that we were arresting and detaining and deporting people who had been here for 5, 10, 15 years. And he called this essentially inhumane and noted that we had a court system that could treat these matters in a humane manner.
Brian Reardon (07:06):
And I think it also gets back to Catholic social teaching again, welcoming the stranger. You go back to Pope Francis, he spoke about this of building bridges, not walls. So really the work that the conference is doing, the work that we in Catholic health care is doing, Catholics I think across the country understand it, at least in our hearts, that there is a sort of a biblical call to treat each other as brothers and sisters. So again, Catholic social teaching I think also would inform this work.
Bill Canny (07:38):
Yeah, absolutely. The teachings of the church in the Bible and subsequently in some of the encyclicals of the Popes are very clear that everyone, first of all has the dignity of God inherent in them. So there is no one illegal, if you will, on our planet, in the eyes of the church and in the eyes of God. So that's important to understand. We are a planet of nation states. So teaching also says that people have the right to stay where they're born in their country, that they should have the basic needs taken care of to stay there. However, it further goes on to stay, say when those needs are not being taken care of when there isn't enough food or when violence persists such that people feel unsafe, particularly families and children, they also have the right to move. And the church recognizes that and make space for people who are compelled to move and ask Nation states like the United States to make space for those people when they're compelled to move and when they arrive at their borders in need of assistance.
Brian Reardon (09:05):
And one of the things that I like about this campaign is it highlights, I don't like the culture of fear, but it highlights this culture of fear really that is being pushed by the administration and then it becomes an issue for those who are here, the migrants and immigrants, they're afraid to leave their homes, they're afraid to go to school, they're afraid to come to our facilities for medical care. So can you talk a little bit about how this campaign can help reassure those individuals who are essentially the targets of this administration's immigration policy so that they maybe can live with less fear?
Bill Canny (09:45):
Yeah. Well, to highlight your statement of fear, there is a survey of 691 health care workers done by the Migrant Clinicians Network in 30 states. And 84% of health care workers in 2025 began to see significant or moderate decreases in people coming to their clinics. 26% of clinicians reported that enforcement was directly affecting health care. Some 40% of patients are fearing to go to clinics and get the proper care that they need. We're particularly concerned with children, I'm speaking about health care because of this show, but the same thing was happening in schools and in churches. People have a fear to go out and go to what are called sensitive locations, which this
Brian Reardon (10:45):
Administration said are no longer protected. And that was an issue that I think both the conference and CHA over a year ago spoke out against to say, why are you getting rid of the protected status or what would be considered sanctuary? Which has been, I think, bill, that's been in policy for over two decades. Right?
Bill Canny (11:04):
Yeah. There's been a policy is what it is. It wasn't a law per se that sensitive locations, churches, hospitals, clinics, schools are places where immigration enforcement would not take place, that they would not go into these places that were considered sort of private, if you will. And while the administration did away with the policy, we are seeing incidents where particularly in Minneapolis recently, some health care institutions did have enforcement activities inside or at least attempted and in or near schools. We have had enforcement activities take place, very limited in churches so far. But nonetheless, we would advocate essentially that this particular policy needs to be codified in the future such that it can take place and we need laws that would prevent this from happening. But going back to the fear, particularly with children, you have children who aren't going outside to play. You have children that are fearful of going to school. You have children whose parents are fearful of taking them to health clinics. And so the trauma for children is particularly something that we're all concerned about in the current situation.
Brian Reardon (12:38):
And the You Are Not Alone campaign. Is there elements of that that can address this sort of culture and fear and really let immigrants know that they're welcome and sort of find a way to reunite them with the communities they live in?
Bill Canny (12:51):
Sure. Well, there are a number of activities that we call for, certainly if, I mean some of the things that we've seen helping parents take their kids to school if they're afraid to go out, we've seen groups of in parishes or other groups collect food and even money to help families who are staying inside and who are maybe not going to work, help them with their food or their electricity payments or their rent because again, they're not going out to work, which they're ostensibly legal able to work. We have a number of vigils and marches across the country, walks, et cetera, where communities are showing support to immigrants who are living under fear. You have groups of people also going to detention centers and trying to get in and talk to people and provide them some support or also having what we would hope for peaceful demonstrations outside of detention centers, all things showing to immigrants who are living under fear that they are not alone, that Catholics and other people of goodwill are with them as they go through this.
Brian Reardon (14:17):
And in this polarized world we live in, and I've kind of alluded to this earlier that maybe not all Catholics even agree. I've seen some polling that a lot of Catholics support this administration's policies. What do you say specifically to Catholics who may not understand? Is there a way to sort of, I guess, open their minds and hearts a little bit?
Bill Canny (14:38):
Well, first of all, we respect different points of view and understand why people have such points of view. I mean, it's not incomprehensible. A part of our initiative is to actually provide education on what the Catholic principles are vis-a-vis migrants, certainly starting with the inherent human dignity of every person and our call by God and by Jesus to love and support every person. Starting with that, but also other points that we make available on our Justice for immigrants website and which people can read and study a bit about Catholic principles regarding migration. So that's where we start, certainly dialogue and then the availability of education materials on how the church and how the people of the church should treat migrants.
Brian Reardon (15:48):
And Bill, what advice would you have for those of us in Catholic health care? And again, our audience, those folks listening I'm guessing, are predominantly those who work in Catholic health care. We have a lot of our listeners who are administrators who leading Catholic health care. What advice would you have to them with their staff to sort of reassure them that, yeah, we welcome everybody. We shouldn't be fearful of ICE coming in. And I know this has happened in a couple of our facilities where again, ICE is coming to areas that were, again, like we said, typically protected status. Any thoughts again for those listening of what they can do to feel assured or reassured in again, standing up for the human dignity of immigrants who are here?
Bill Canny (16:33):
Yeah, I think administrators and staff can look at a couple of important resources that have been put out. Clinic has put out a resource on health care facilities. Elements include know your rights, know the rights of staff in these situations. Also, the National Immigration Legal Center has put out a good pamphlet for health care staff and administrators on ICE and what the rules and regulations they should be abiding, what the rights of personnel and immigrants are. These are good resources. Certainly anyone involved in managing or administrating such facilities would want to talk with their legal counsel about this. But I would say don't be afraid to propagate these principles to make sure staff understand what should be done and given situations. Put some protocols in place so everyone is ready when situations arise.
Brian Reardon (17:48):
Oh, that's good to know. And again, I think Josh, we'll have links to these resources. Of course, CHA has also put together about a year ago, bill, we also aggregated, collected and curated some of the resources you just mentioned. So I think that's a good reminder that those documents, guidelines are accessible and available and we would encourage people to access them. Josh, as we're wrapping up the conversation, I want to bring you back in. You've been listening to Bill. Describe the campaign questions or comments for him as we wrap things up.
Josh Matejka (18:22):
Yeah, sure. And thanks again, Bill, for highlighting so much like data and statistics and numbers that I think really give a lot of reality to what can seem like a larger ethereal issue that we keep hearing about on the news and on social media. At the beginning of the episode, I talked about how United for Change, the theme of our season here at Health Calls kind of ultimately gets back to our strategic plan and our vision statement. And as this initiative is an all church initiative, right? It's beyond the parish, it's beyond the health care system. If you would have to put a vision beyond what you are not alone will accomplish here in the United States, specifically responding to the current state of things, immigration, what would you say that vision is?
Bill Canny (19:14):
Well, I would say one that immigrants who are fearful understand that they are not alone. I mean, largely, we also want to inculcate a greater compassion for the immigrant situation in this country and help people understand that the undocumented immigrant, if you will, is not just a product of their own action, but all of ours, the fact that we let them in legally into the country, that we did not adjudicate their presence due to a slow court system for 5, 10, 15 years. We allowed them to work. We paid them. We legally supported them with benefits, access to school. These folks are not in this situation on their own. We are all actually responsible. What we need to do is slow down, end this harassment, if you will, of immigrants at this time, and move to a reform of the system that will allow us to regulate our immigration system as we decide within the context of the constitution and international law, and then provide case by case, group by group, a legal solution for the situation that they're in. We have to move judiciously and with immigration reform to solve this in the longer term.
Brian Reardon (21:03):
Yeah, great Bill, great summary of not only the you are not alone campaign, but also just the reality of immigration in America and what's happening. So really appreciate your insights and just the excellent summary of the work you're doing and that all of you're doing there at the US Catholic Conference of Bishops. Again, we stand behind you. We think it's a great initiative, and again, we want to be part of all the solution to this. So again, thanks for joining us and giving us such a great overview.
Bill Canny (21:33):
It's been my pleasure and my pleasure to be with the Good folks. We will see this in the Catholic Health Association and beyond.
Brian Reardon (21:42):
Again, that was Bill Canny, he's Executive Director of the Secretariat of Migration at the USCCB. Again, I'm your host, Brian Reardon. I was joined by Josh Matejka, our executive producer. Our scheduling producer is Sarah Marchant. Health Calls is produced at Once Studios in St. Louis. You can access health calls at the CHA website. And again, that website is chausa.org. Just go up to the top of the page under news and publications. You can select the podcast episodes from there. As Josh mentioned earlier, we'll have other resources with that episode that you can access that Bill mentioned, and we encourage you to do so. You can also access health calls on all of your favorite podcast streaming services. And when you do so, please give us some feedback. Give us a five-star rating. That feedback really helps get health calls to a broader audience. And as always, thanks for listening.