Faith CoLab: Tapestry of Faith: The Wi$dom Path: An Adult Program on Money, Spirit, and Life

Activity 2: Global Economic Forces and U.S. Immigration

Part of The Wi$dom Path

Activity time: 25 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Make copies of Story 2
  • Optional: Set up computer and speakers, queue video, and test equipment.

Description of Activity

Distribute copies of Story 2, Mariana Rodriguez, and introduce using these or similar words:

Margaret Regan is a reporter for the Tucson (AZ) Weekly who has been covering immigration and border issues for years. She is the author of two books published by Beacon Press, The Death of Josseline (2010), which was a UUA Common Read, and this newest book, Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire, published in 2015. This excerpt highlights the economic pressures on one family of undocumented immigrants.

If you are able to do so, show the television interview with Regan.

Invite participants to read the selection. Then, engage them in discussion, using these questions:

  • How is your economic well-being tied to Mariana and those like her?
  • How is your humanity tied with hers in what Martin Luther King called “an inescapable network of mutuality”?
  • What differences do you see, if any, between what is morally right and what is legally right? While Mariana’s behavior was not legal, was it morally wrong?
  • Does focusing on an individual story help clarify moral and religious values for you regarding undocumented workers?