USCCB committee calls for permanent reauthorization of Religious Worker Visa Program
September 03, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: In a five-page letter to members of the Congress, the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Migration called for a permanent, rather than annual, reauthorization of the Religious Worker Visa Program.
“This important program allows those who work in a religious vocation or occupation, but who are not considered members of the clergy or ordained persons within their religious tradition, to serve permanently in the United States,” Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso wrote in his recent letter. “Congress should permanently reauthorize this program to avoid the uncertainty and disruption that its looming expiration unnecessarily creates.”
Bishop Seitz also wrote that “the wellbeing of immigrants, refugees, unaccompanied noncitizen children, victims of trafficking, and other populations, as well as our immigration system in general, is of great concern to the Catholic Church.” He weighed in on six other immigration-related issues, including humanitarian protections, unaccompanied children, and enforcement and detention.
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