Against a political backdrop in which immigration has been spotlighted, the dioceses of El Paso, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, hosted their annual border Mass.
The Mass, usually concelebrated just north of Juarez and west of El Paso in nearby Sunland Park, New Mexico, was forced to move. Normally it is held in a large lot of compacted sand, able to hold hundreds of attendees. Many will come to lock fingers through a chain-link fence with loved ones on the Mexican side.
But over the summer, the US Border Patrol began construction on a large, 18-foot steel fence meant to obstruct those trying to cross the border from Mexico into the United States illegally. The Mass was moved to the literal divide between the two countries -- the Rio Grande River.
