Church groups plan border procession
By Jonathon Shacat
Herald/Review

Published on Tuesday, April 08, 2008

BISBEE — Church groups from the United States and Mexico are sponsoring a border procession that will be held later this month in Naco.

Participants plan to meet at the U.S. port of entry at 1 p.m. on April 19 and eventually pass into Naco, Sonora.
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Seth Polley, the vicar of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bisbee and the border missioner for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, is organizing the procession.

Tom Buechle, Polley’s predecessor at St. John’s, first held the event in 2005. Polley took the position in 2006 and he did not hold the event that year. But last year it was held again.

This year, some changes are being made to the activities due to the recent construction of the border fence.

In past years, participants would walk along the border and hold a service where the wall ended. This year, they won’t be able to continue the practice of sharing grape juice and bread across the border and singing face to face.

Instead, they will meet near the port of entry and do some responsive singing at the border fence there. But, he pointed out, the participants may be able to hear each other through the fence but they won’t be able to see each other.

They will then dedicate the Migrant Resource Center at Naco, Sonora, and then hold a service at the Church of Guadalupe in Naco, Sonora. Kirk Smith, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, is scheduled to address the gathering.

“We will still be able to do some kind of connecting with the folks on the Mexican side once we all cross in and go to the center and up to the church, but the new fence kind of puts a damper on our event,â€