Ascension is a Sanctuary Supporting church in the ISAIAH Sanctuary Network of Minnesota. As such, we fight for robust, compassionate, immigration reform and immigrant justice in the United States.
One of the ways we serve is by providing accompaniment for members of our communities who have to appear in immigration court, report to ICE, or request accompaniment for other civil or criminal encounters. Volunteers stand with them for support. No matter the outcomes, we accompany one another through it all.
Fr. Dale Korogi, trained as an accompanier, writes, “A key awareness in our accompaniment training was the acknowledgment that the one whom we may be called to accompany, our immigrant sister or brother, is an equal partner: our “compa,” our compañera or compañero. We are not do-gooding saviors coming to the rescue of the poor refugee. While we may leverage our privilege as members of the dominant culture, we are equals in the struggle for justice.”
He continues, “Another important learning was that, as a “compa,” our primary purpose for accompanying another was not to DO anything, really, but simply to be with the other. Call it a ministry of presence.”
“We need to help others to realize that the only way is to learn how to encounter others with the right attitude, which is to accept and esteem them as companions along the way, without interior resistance. Better yet, it means learning to find Jesus in the faces of others, in their voice, in their pleas.” — Pope Francis
