This should make Mass fun on Sunday

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday. My first Palm Sunday. And this huge march is starting at Noon, the same time as my Mass is supposed to start. The last march they had, that was much less formal, still had close to a thousand people there. I'm scared to be there at Noon on Sunday. It's almost going to be impossible to walk there, let alone drive there.

I already e-mailed my RCIA teacher to see if maybe I should go to the Chapel services next Sunday instead of trying to brave the crowds.

The link takes you to the web site, but you have to be a registered user to see the story.

Cathedral urges worshippers to march
Dallas: Church officials invite all to protest immigration proposals

06:33 AM CDT on Monday, April 3, 2006
By PATRICIA ESTRADA / Al Día


Officials at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe encouraged the congregation there Sunday to participate in a march for the legalization of undocumented immigrants set to take place downtown on Sunday.

Cathedral Rector Father Ramón Álvarez said the announcement was to be made at the end of each of the six Masses that take place there on Sundays.

"The people are invited, and those who want to participate in an orderly fashion may peacefully give their opinion," Father Álvarez said.

The march is to begin at noon Palm Sunday in front of the cathedral at 2215 Ross Ave. and end in front of Dallas City Hall.

Pastor Marcos Rico, state coordinator of Esperanza de Texas evangelical churches, said that Christian ministers affiliated with that group made a similar call to their congregations.

"We believe that an immigration agreement is necessary, as well as a stop to laws that incriminate those of us who help undocumented people," said Mr. Rico. "We want children and youth to attend, and we are getting people to take a palm branch, which symbolizes the triumphal entry of Jesus" into Jerusalem.

Unlike protests last week that were orchestrated by students using cellphones and the Internet, Sunday's march is being coordinated by the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Domingo García, LULAC's national civil rights chairman, said his group asked different churches to invite their congregations to the march.

"It's a call we really appreciate," he said.

Church participation in the immigration debate could increase the size of the crowd at Sunday's march, said José Ángel Gutiérrez, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.

"This is the beginning of a social movement of the 21st century," said Mr. Gutiérrez, adding that it is time the Catholic Church makes public its position in the immigration debate.