Immigration reform is heating up at Catholic colleges across the United States this fall.

This comes after a summer where 100 Catholic university presidents sent a letter to Catholic Speaker of the House John Boehner urging him to pass immigration reform and where it was announced that Notre Dame and other American Catholic universities would begin admitting undocumented immigrants.

The latest fall push sponsored by Ignatian Solidarity Network and Faith in Public Life went into full swing last week as twenty five Catholic colleges began joint actions targeted to pressure Catholic elected officials to pass humane comprehensive immigration reform.

“The advocacy of presidents, students and campus ministers from Catholic universities sends a clear moral message to elected officials that we must act now to fix our broken immigration system,” said Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University. “I hope the many graduates of Catholic universities in Congress heed this call to put human dignity and the common good before narrow-minded partisanship.”

The number of Catholics in Congress is at a historic high, including 136 in the House of Representatives.

This new movement also received the episcopal imprimatur by Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles who said that “Catholic students put their faith into action when they stand up for immigrant families.”

It’s clear where the Church stands on this critical issue. Now let’s see how willing its 136 members in the House are willing to listen and to act.