For Catholics, the Lenten season is a period of examination of our lives, of repentance for our failings, and of recommitment to the Christian life of faith, hope, and love of God and neighbor. This year, Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, March 5, and ends in the days leading up to Easter on April 20.

As we begin this Lenten season in 2025, we are keenly aware that our immigrant brothers and sisters are being threatened and publicly degraded in new and alarming ways. In our time, it has become all too popular to scapegoat immigrants for our national problems, to tell lies about many of their motivations for migration, and to choose to exclude them from our vision of a flourishing society.

In the face of this, the leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church and Pope Francis are calling on the Church to be a courageous witness to some of the deepest principles and duties of our faith: to respect the dignity of all people, regardless of their immigration status, and to welcome the stranger as Christ whenever possible. We are called to act and speak out in defense of our immigrant brothers and sisters, who are caught up in an unjust system and many of whom are cherished members of our families and communities.

What does it look like for communities of faith to stand firm in their belief in the dignity of all people? To sacrifice time, talents, and energy in order to welcome Christ in the foreigner?

This Lent, CLINIC invites you to reflect with us on “witnesses of welcome,” communities who are showing us how to live out these deepest principles. Their witness of faith and compassion are like sparks that can catch on, igniting in others commitment to justice and inspiring action. We will share a series of articles and resources to help jumpstart action in your own community.

Follow along with us on X, Facebook, and Instagram as we reflect on these witnesses and the powerful words of Pope Francis in his Lenten Message for 2025:

“This Lent, God is asking us to examine whether in our lives, in our families, in the places where we work and spend our time, we are capable of walking together with others, listening to them, resisting the temptation to become self-absorbed and to think only of our own needs.”

“It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father. This would be a good “examination of conscience” for all of us wayfarers.”