Senior Moments by Audrey Larkin

We were thrilled to have had a special visitor this week at Café Eireann and the Irish Pastoral Centre - Consul General Breandán Ó’Caollaí; he took time out of his busy schedule to drop by the Irish Pastoral Centre; Breandán also took this opportunity to speak briefly to those who had gathered. After taking in some brown bread and coffee, he took time to personally introduce himself to the many seniors who just returned for the first coffee morning following a hiatus for the month of August. The group was also led in song by Kevin O' Sullivan who treated everyone to some traditional Irish songs like The Rose of Tralee and The Fields of Athenry.

We also welcomed, Jeannette & Jean Heatley from Emerald Isle Nursing Agency who offered a brief introduction about their agency following that they provided a 1:1 Health & Wellness check to seniors who signed up.

Immigration and U.S. Citizenship News by Kieran C. O’ Sullivan

This week I had an email from a person who is a legal permanent resident (LPR). In the past year, she was outside of the U.S. for a trip of six months. She was questioned when she tried to come back into the U.S. about such a long absence. Eventually she was re- admitted as a legal permanent resident. She is now thinking of going out of the U.S. again for a further three months. She was advised that she will again face scrutiny when she tries to return to the U.S.

Abandoning legal residency status

After you become a permanent resident, you must demonstrate at the time of any re-entry that your trip outside the U.S. was temporary and that you are returning to your un-abandoned primary residence. If you remain outside the U.S. for a lengthy period or engage in activities which indicate that your permanent residence is no longer inside the U.S. then U.S. immigration authorities may consider you to have voluntarily abandoned your U.S. residency and deny your entry.

Many people believe that they can retain their LPR status by brief trips into the U.S. each year, this is not the case. If your actual permanent residence is not in the U.S. you have abandoned your immigration status in the U.S. U.S. immigration inspectors have denied entry to some immigrants who had remained outside of the U.S. for more than six months because inspectors determined the immigrants had abandoned their LPR status.

The factors which may determine how temporary your trips outside the U.S. were may include the following:

· Is your actual home and place of employment in the U.S.?

· Did you have a definite temporary reason to travel abroad?

· Did you expect to return to the U.S. within a relatively short period of time?

· Are you returning to the U.S. when expected? If not, what circumstances caused you to spend additional time abroad? Were these circumstances within your control?

· Where are your family ties, property, business affiliations etc?

· Have you filed U.S. resident tax returns?

If the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) inspector at the port of entry is not satisfied that you qualify as a returning permanent resident, you may be “paroled” into the U.S. This means you will be allowed to enter the U.S. although legally considered to be “outside” in order to allow the local CBP office to conduct a “deferred” inspection. This means that the CBP has deferred or postponed consideration of your application for entry until a later date. You will then be asked to appear at an interview at the CBP office with jurisdiction over your “claimed” place of U.S. residency.

You should retain an immigration attorney at this step in the process. You will need to present strong evidence to prove that you have not abandoned your U.S. residency. You will need evidence to illustrate why you remained outside of the U.S. if you are claiming it was circumstances beyond your control. The CBP interview may be reviewed by an immigration judge. If the hearing results in an unfavorable decision, you may appeal it to the Board of Immigration Appeals and thereafter to federal district court. However, keep in mind that this is a very document-intensive and expensive process. 

Gospel By Sr. Marguerite Kelly

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Throughout the world these days, we have experienced the horrors of violence and war and tremendous inhumanity. Some of us may be in the midst of this terrible violence. Others of us just read about it, but feel real pain at the suffering we read or see on the news.

God summons Ezekiel to be a prophet – to try to change the behavior of the people. So much does God want Ezekiel to take on this mission of transforming the hearts of the people, God even says God will hold Ezekiel responsible for the people’s behavior.

In Psalm 95 we remind ourselves that if we hear his voice today, we should not harden our hearts.

Creighton.edu/Collaborative Ministry Andy Alexander, S.J.

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