On Saturday, October 5th, 35 Catholic clergy and leaders representing 14 parishes from the Tucson Diocese gathered at St. Cyril’s of Alexandria parish for a Parish Leadership Training on Immigration, organized by Pima County Interfaith. 

The day featured Tucson Bishop Edward Weisenburger and Joanna Williams, Executive Director of Kino Border Initiative who delivered a powerful presentation on Catholic Social Teaching, the protection of human rights and dignity of immigrants. 

Jorge Montiel, with the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation, and Monique Vasquez, Senior Organizer with Pima County Interfaith, led trainings for local leaders to address pressures on families and communities, with a focus on strengthening parish leadership within churches. 

The day included an in-depth discussion on Arizona’s current ballot measure, Proposition 314, for which the Arizona Bishops have publicly expressed their opposition. Among other things, the proposition gives federal immigration authority to local law enforcement and threatens civil liberties. 

The training, part of the West/Southwest IAF’s Recognizing the Stranger’s strategy with 20 dioceses in the Southwestern US, is a result of a partnership with the Diocese of Tucson, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation and Pima County Interfaith Council. It first launched in Tucson in 2017, designed to assist parishes with large immigrant populations in developing stronger relationships both inside and between community institutions. 

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Pima County Interfaith announces a series of voting civic academies open to the public. The same material will be presented in locations in different corners of Tucson for the convenience of participants.

Voting: Action, Integrity, Safety

A Civic Academy presented by Pima County Interfaith Council       

Special Guests: The Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly and Elections Director Constance Hargrove

Schedule of Academies (please choose one):

March 2 at 10:30 AM– St Francis in the Foothills, 4625 E River Rd.

April 6 at 11:00 AM – Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, 210 E Lester St.

April 20 at 1:30 PM – Casas Adobes Congregational United Church of Christ, 6801 N Oracle Rd.

May 7 at 3:00 PM – Kol Ami Synagogue, 225 N Country Club Rd. Co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relation Council

Who: Everyone interested in the voting process, including mail-in voting, and how officials maintain integrity and safety in elections. Get your questions answered by experts! Free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Please note: Pima County Interfaith is a non-partisan, non-profit organization. There will be no effort to influence how or who you vote for at this event.

Register Here or use the QR code

Register:  Here

In a major step towards establishing trust between local law enforcement and immigrants, and with the support of Bishop Weisenberger and local law enforcement, Pima County Interfaith officially launched the first printing of parish identification cards in Tucson.  Participating law enforcement, including Sheriff Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and Assistant Chief Diana Duffy of the Tucson Police Department, reassured PCI that they could be trusted to accept the IDs.  With this in mind, they encouraged parish ID holders to report when they are victimized or witnesses of crimes.

The Pima County Interfaith (PCI) Executive Team regretfully announce the sudden death of Kevin Courtney, our former organizer, on Thursday, October. 19, 2023. 

Kevin started his community organizing work  Pima County Interfaith Council in Tucson, then moved to El Paso, where he was the senior organizer for EPISO. He returned to Tucson to become the PCI lead organizer in 2011, retiring from that position in 2018. 

Updates for late summer/early fall 2023

PCI’s recent focus has been primarily in three areas:

1. meeting with city and county government leaders
2. continuing to build the Parish ID program
3. educating parents and other concerned adults about new challenges facing Arizona’s public education system.

Government Leaders

As we have spoken with elected leaders and administrators at the city and county level, the stories we have heard are remarkably similar. Here are some highlights:

• The new flat tax will have a significant negative effect on the city budget beginning in 2025. Multiple approaches to replacing lost revenue are being considered so as to avoid cutting services. It will also decrease the amount of the general fund making it difficult for the state to provide services at historic levels.
• The state legislature is undercutting the ability of municipalities and counties to work effectively by issuing pre-emptive legislation preventing them from passing local laws on a wide range of issues. These run the gamut from gun safety to plastic bag usage.
• Homelessness is a significant problem; affordable housing is the single most pressing unmet need in southern Arizona at the moment. The county and city are working together on the regional affordable housing commission.

Parish IDs

The parishes involved in the Parish ID program include Our Lady Queen of All Saints, St John's, St Pius, Santa Monica's, Our Mother of Sorrows, St Joseph, St Augustine Cathedral, Sacred Heart, St Cyril's, St Margaret's and Our Lady of Fatima.

On Saturday, September 9th, 2023 Pima County Interfaith, Save Our Schools Arizona, the Children's Action Alliance, Arizona Center for Economic Progress, and the Amphitheater School District hosted a public education town hall to learn more about the issues impacting Arizona schools.

The town hall was a great success, bringing together over 80 participants and a panel of experts to discuss ways to support our students, teachers, administrators and school boards.

On August 3-4, leaders, and potential leaders for Pima County Interfaith (PCI) joined together at St Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church for a leadership retreat on broad-based organizing for Pima County. Joe Rubio, national Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) co-director and Jorge Monteil, lead organizer in Denver, presented the retreat, which provoked deep discussion and involvement of participants.

Topics covered included the challenges and opportunities of post-COVID organizing; the nature of institutional relationships and interests; how to deepen relationships with member institutions; and how to cultivate new relationships.

Based on the book of Ezra, leaders learned that out of a crisis, change will happen. COVID was just such a crisis, and our goal is to change for the better. To do so, it’s important to understand the nature of society, and the difference between contracts and covenants. While PCI is a covenantal organization, much of our society functions in a contractual or transactional way.

We are excited to welcome Kol Ami as PCI’s newest member institution!

On July 13, 2023, we interviewed Rabbi Malcolm Cohen and Dr. Elaine Jones to learn more about Kol Ami and social justice according to the Jewish tradition. The following is a summary of our conversation.

Introducing Rabbi Malcolm Cohen

Rabbi Malcolm Cohen grew up in the United Kingdom and served as rabbi at West London Synagogue and Temple Sinai in Las Vegas, Nevada before becoming one of Kol Ami’s first rabbis on March 10, 2023. Rabbi Cohen is passionate about social activism.