By: Washingtonian Staff
Conversations with some of the folks on Washington’s 2021 Most Influential People list.
Mario E. Dorsonville
Auxiliary Bishop of Washington and Chairman of the Committee on Migration for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
“During the last four years, it has been a very difficult time for everything that the Church in the United States relates to with refugees and immigrants.
“We are in a very particular path where we have been working, advocating, and trying to become the voice of the voiceless, the presence for those who really need to undertake the most difficult poverty in this world, that is to be invisible. I’m speaking about our undocumented brothers and sisters that for years have been here in this country, working and giving the best to the economy, to the communities, to the church, to the nation. What we really tried to do with all these efforts is to humanize.
“When we see children in cages, taken away from their parents, destroying the family—that is a moral obligation for the bishops, for the priests, for the Catholic Church to say, ‘This is not right.’ We advocate for family reunification, in terms of immigration, because it’s important for us to keep the family concept in order to favor the future of this society. This country has been built in our ability to recognize the importance of family life. If we really want to have a stronger country, we need to have stronger families.”
—As told to Daniella Byck
