The head of Utah’s 300,000 Catholics joined with other Catholic and evangelical leaders across the nation Wednesday in an open letter urging Congress to adopt "common sense" immigration reform this year.

The Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of the Salt Lake City Diocese, signed on to the ecumenical appeal with other notable faith leaders, including Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Jim Wallis, president and founder of the Sojourners social-justice group; and leading Catholic churchmen from Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.