Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action

The conference will be held on Sunday, October 6, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at St. Martin’s Evangelical Lutheran Church at 606 West 15^th St. in Austin.

The conference is free and open to the public. Religious leaders will discuss the need for immigration reform from the perspective of faith, business, worker’s rights and the immigrant experience. The conference will conclude with a Q&A session.

Keynote speakers for the event are Dr. Luis Zayas of The University of Texas and Jeff Patterson of the Texas Catholic Conference.

Bishop Joe Vásquez, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Austin, will participate in the event, along with Rabbi Alan Freedman, of Temple Beth Shalom; Imam Islam Mossaad of the North Austin Muslim Community Center and John Elford of University United Methodist Church and many other faith leaders.

“The current immigration system is broken,” Bishop Vásquez said. “Comprehensive immigration reform has been an issue of great importance to me and to all of the Catholic bishops of the United States for decades. The primary and fundamental reason for our position is that we know and proclaim the dignity of every human person. We believe that each person is created in the image and likeness of God, and we believe that this has implications for public policy on immigration.”