Bishop Boyea recently received a letter of recognition and a certificate from Most Reverend Eusebio Elizondo, Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, honoring the Refugee Resettlement staff of St Vincent Catholic Charities, Lansing, for their work in refugee settlement.
Bishop Elizondo’s letter read, in part “we express our deepest appreciation for the hard work and tremendous dedication of your refugee resettlement program staff. In this past fiscal year that saw an increase of 15,000 refugees admitted to the United States, your staff was able to more than meet this challenge. The past several months have been particularly taxing on them as the federal government made an accelerated push to meet the 85,000 refugee admissions quota and resettled close to 12,000 special immigrant visa (SIV) cases as well. The dioceses welcomed almost 23,500 refugees and SIV cases. This is a great accomplishment and one in which you should take great pride. We commend your diocese in particular as one that went beyond I00% of the original number of refugees projected.” Congratulations to St Vincent Catholic Charities!