After the group sessions, all 15 group facilitators and secretaries were asked to summarize in writing what was common and what was significant. Each night the facilitators met with the CMFN Board and consultation facilitators to analyze the days proceeding and to complement the reports with their impressions.

Strategies and programs flowing from the recommendations and resolutions will be developed by the CMFN Board of Directors, by the USCCB, and by other organizations working with rural immigrants.

The components of the resolutions and recommendations indicate an invitation to the Church as institution to take a clear human rights stance for farmworkers and rural immigrants and to be in solidarity with them.

Strong tendencies in the consultation process

• Identity: The participants expressed a strong and profound sense of identity as…
  • Latino
  • Christian / Catholic
  • Migrants / farmworkers
  • Seeking justice
  • Actors not spectators
  • With a hope for a better future
    
    
• An invitation to “come and see”  (a listening process) –  to visit, understand and be in solidarity with the immigrants
• A call to the Church as institution to take a clear stance on social justice for migrants, with a Pastoral Letter and follow-up at national, regional and local levels.
• Pastoral accompaniment of bishops, priests, deacons, and pastoral agents is needed.
• Networking among organizations, agencies, dioceses and leaders of other Christian faith traditions
• Formation for leadership – pastoral, social, cross-cultural
• Formation in Catholic Social Teaching, together with a united stance against injustice
• Establish centers for social assistance programs in rural areas (child care, medical assistance, education, etc)
• Inform and motivate migrants and others for greater participation and action and short and long term processes towards political change
• Youth: access to third level education, formation and pastoral /spiritual accompaniment.

The consultation process itself was held over a four day period, (with participants organized in 15 groups), and carried out in four consultative stages:

1. Historic Memory:
          -Who am I?  My Work? My Ministry?

2. Migrant Exodus:
           -How did God confirm your journey as an immigrant? How did you discover this?
           -In your migrant exodus, to what is God calling you?

3. Solidarity: Together on the Road:
           -Where have we found solidarity? Where has solidarity been absent?

4. Resolutions and Recommendations:
          -Pastoral, Community and Social Justice