U.S.

Bishop John Manz meets with ‘people on the move’ in Kentucky

By Joyce Duriga
Sunday, October 2, 2016

Bishop John Manz meets with ‘people on the move’ in Kentucky

Auxiliary Bishop John Manz learns what its like to cut a tobacco plant at the Barton Tobacco and Corn Farm in Lexington, Kentucky on Sept. 22. Bishop Manz made a pastoral visit to migrant workers in Kentucky on behalf of the USCCB the week of Sept. 19-22, 2016. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
A rider exercises a horse at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington. Bishop Manz and his delegation had an outdoor Mass at the center and afterward spoke with workers on Sept. 22. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Bishop Manz helps Eva Gonzales of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, untangle rosaries to distribute to workers at the Bluegrass Nursery in Shelbyville, Kentucky on Sept. 21. All of the men are on contract with the nursery to work about eight months on an H-2A government visa. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Bishop Manz talks with Jose Miguel at the Lane’s End barn at Keeneland on Sept. 22. Bishop Manz spends a lot of time on these trips talking to individuals and learning about their lives and pastoral needs. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Jose Miguel walks a horse for Lane’s End Farm as part of the annual Keeneland horse sales in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sept. 22. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Carlos walks a horse for Lane’s End Farm as part of the annual Keeneland horse sales in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sept. 22. Bishop Manz spoke to Lane's End workers and staff about the conditions they work and live in. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Jose Cruz cuts tobacco on Barton Tobacco and Corn Farm in Lexington. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
On Sept. 22, Deacon Eduardo Fortini examines drying tobacco leaves on the Barton Tobacco and Corn Farm in Lexington. Auxiliary Bishop Jon Manz makes a pastoral visit to migrant workers in Kentucky on behalf of the USCCB Sept. 19-22, 2016. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Rodolfo Gomez cleans a stallion’s stall at Ashford Stud Farm on Sept. 21. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Workers on Ashford Farm pray during Mass celebrated with Bishop John Stowe from Lexington and John Manz from Chicago at Ashford Stud Horse Farm in Lexington on Sept. 21. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Lexington, Kentucky, Bishop John Stowe hears confession of a worker following Mass with Bishop Manz at Ashford Stud Horse Farm in Lexington on Sept. 21. Auxiliary Bishop John Manz made a pastoral visit to migrant workers in Kentucky on behalf of the USCCB Sept. 19-22, 2016. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Lexington, Kentucky, Bishop John Stowe was the main celebrant at a Mass with Bishop Manz at Ashford Stud Horse Farm in Lexington on Sept. 21. In the left corner, 2015 Triple Crown Winner American Pharoah sticks his head out of his stall. It was the first time Mass was said with the champion horse. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Bishop Stowe raises the Eucharist during a Mass as American Pharoah sticks his head out of his stall. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Bishop Stowe was the main celebrant at a Mass with Bishop Manz at Ashford Stud Horse Farm in Lexington on Sept. 21. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Stallion Manager Richard Barry introduces 2015 Triple Crown Winner American Pharoah to Bishop Manz on Sept. 21. The horse lives on Ashford Farm where he earns $200,000 for each breeding session. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Chicago Deacon Luis Trevino stands examines leaves in the Barton Tobacco and Corn Farm in Lexington. Trevino ministers to migrant workers at Chicago’s racetracks. He accompanied Bishop Manz on the visit. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)
Bishop Manz celebrates Mass for workers at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington on Sept. 22. Auxiliary Bishop Jon Manz makes a pastoral visit to migrant workers in Kentucky on behalf of the USCCB Sept. 19-22, 2016. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)

Horse farms. World-renowned racetracks. A nursery. A tobacco farm. A horse stud farm. An equine hospital. Those were several of the places Auxiliary Bishop John Manz visited Sept. 19-22 to meet “people on the move” on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For over 10 years, Bishop Manz has made annual visits to dioceses across the United States to talk to migrant workers and to assess their pastoral and other needs. He makes recommendations to the local dioceses and the bishops’ conference on how the church can better minister to these often-invisible groups.

According to a recent Pew Research Center report, the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States is 11.1 million, a number that has held steady for six years. Migrant workers often do farm work such as hand-picking crops like tomatoes or tobacco. They also work in chicken or meat processing factories, on nurseries or, as is the case in Kentucky, on horse farms and racetracks.

“There’s no other visits we’ve done that focus on racetracks,” Bishop Manz told the Catholic New World. “If you look there’s more than 20 good-sized race tracks throughout the country. Figure there’s at least 300 at each track that are people on the move, many undocumented, and the number of people adds up.”

One highlight of the trip, Bishop Manz said, was visiting Churchill Downs in Louisville, where the Kentucky Derby is held each May.

“I was glad we had the chance to go to Churchill Downs, which is the mother of all of the tracks, you might say, and to realize how big that it is on the backside,” he said. The backside is the part of the track most people never see where the barns and the lodgings for migrant workers and others are located.

Many migrant workers in the horse racing industry go where the horses go, moving from Kentucky to places like Louisiana and Florida in the winter when races are held there.

Those working on the backside come mainly from Mexico and Guatemala.

“Many people would be surprised at how many (workers) are from out of the country that are immigrants,” the bishop said.

Hot walkers (those who walk the horses around the barns after a race or training session to cool them down) earn about $250 a week. The next level up are grooms and then exercise riders.

Moving up from exercise riders to trainers is not possible for the undocumented.

“I always remember the phrase Pope Francis uses a lot about ministering to those on the periphery. This definitely fits in there because these are the folks the church almost has to seek out and that’s not an easy thing to do because some of the owners don’t like it and they are going to be suspicious,” Bishop Manz said. “I would guess that 20 or 30 years ago there were a lot more labor violations. It’s not perfect now but I think they all have raised it up a little.”

A few times on this visit he encountered people here working on contracts with H-2A visas. These visas are for the agricultural industry and allow farmers and growers to legally hire people from outside the United States to fill positions they cannot find anyone locally to do. The owners bring the workers over for an allotted period of time and also provide them health care.

People at Lane’s End Farm whom Bishop Manz met at Keeneland Racetrack during the annual sales told him that to get the H-2A they have to prove they made the effort to find people locally who will do the work. Lane’s End regularly posts job openings on its website but doesn’t receive any responses.

“That argument that people say you’re taking away jobs from people here well, they may be unemployed but they don’t want to do that work,” Bishop Manz said.

In the case of Bluegrass Nursery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, the men were hired for about eight months at a time on the H-2A visa and worked six days a week growing plants and flowers for nearby Kroger stores. While they don’t have to worry about immigration officials picking them up, they are isolated out in the country with no easy means of getting on or off the farm. It’s not an ideal situation.

Workers told the bishop that Bluegrass is the only farm in the area that hires H-2A workers. The rest, it was assumed, hire migrant workers.

Because Bishop Manz and his group visited places that treated their workers pretty well, he said, “you have to assume there are others that certainly don’t come up to that standard.”

In the case of Barton Tobacco and Corn Farm in Lexington, farmer Bob Barton really seemed to care about his workers according to Bishop Manz.

“He had a lot of respect for the folks there,” he said. “It was a mixed group working on the farm. He seemed to have a real sense of the people there and what they’re going through. In my visits throughout I’ve found people — growers and owners — they aren’t all evil and uncaring. Especially the guys who aren’t real big.”

Conditions for most workers are better than 20 or 30 years ago.

“On the tobacco farm they made it clear even though it’s nothing like it used to be, still those who work it have labor-intensive jobs,” the bishop said.

Of course, farmers don’t earn nearly as much as those in the horse industry.

“It’s a multibillion-dollar industry around the world,” Bishop Manz said. “I don’t know how you can really justify some of that if I had to go to bed at night and know I was spending all that money on a horse. It’s a real contrast in society to show what we’re willing to spend money on. Along with it, the big races, they have an increase in prostitution and human trafficking.”

These are all subcategories of workers who can get overlooked because they are on the fringe.

“They get drawn into it and have nobody to speak for them,” Bishop Manz said, adding that these are great opportunities for the laity or deacons to help out where priests can’t.

During these trips, Bishop Manz spends a lot of time listening to the personal stories of workers. Migrant or undocumented workers come here because there are no jobs at home. In most cases they would rather stay in their home countries but are looking for better lives for their families and themselves. When they come here they can face dangerous working conditions, deportation and abuse by bosses.

“It’s a humanitarian crisis,” Bishop Manz said. “There has to be concern for what is going on because it affects us, and we are involved in it because we’re benefitting from the work these migrants are doing.”

Topics:

  • immigrants
  • immigration
  • immigration reform
  • undocumented workers

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