Throughout this year, retirees and senior citizens in their 60s, 70s, and 80s have teamed up with consecrated religious of many congregations to rally for the rights and dignity of immigrants. They have conducted rallies and prayer vigils outside ICE offices as well as the offices of elected congressional representatives. This is particularly so in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.
Journalist Meir Rinde of Billy Penn at WHYY, the local news outlet for National Public Radio (NPR), recently did a feature on these social justice-minded senior individuals.
The activists included Jerry Zurek, PhD, a retired Cabrini University Communications Professor who co-leads a regional chapter of the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. Zurek said, “I believe we should welcome all people of good will. They enrich our country. I’m a former teacher, and I had so many students who were immigrants themselves, some of them undocumented. I want to do whatever I can to help them.”
Zurek, who is in his 80s, was one of many older people at [a recent] protest. He said he wanted to be there, despite the cold.
“I’m trying to do everything I can to support our immigrant community to make America better,” her said. “We just had twin granddaughters born, and we want to make the world OK for our grandchildren.”
Dr. Zurek was joined by alumni of Cabrini College/University who share his deep concern about the current treatment of immigrants.
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To learn about a prayer vigil for immigrants, please click here