By Sister Michele Schroeck — When I think of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the territory of the United States and Canada and patroness of ecology, I think of the Bhutanese immigrants living in my neighborhood. They were expelled from their native lands and sent to Nepal, where they lived in refugee camps in the 1990s before coming to the United States. These Bhutanese like many other native peoples were forced to leave their ancestral home.
More than 50 sisters, associates and colleagues in ministry joined the Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C., on Saturday, June 18, 2022. Sister Carren Herring and Sister Diane Guerin recently reflected on what it was like to be a part of this momentous event!
By Elnora Bassey, Policy Advocate, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) — In early May 2022, I arose from my cozy bed hours before sunrise to catch an early flight to the U.S.-Mexico border. An advocate attorney with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), which works to protect immigrant and humanitarian rights, I was participating in a week-long border immersion experience to El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to learn more about immigration issues facing migrants during and after their journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. The program was sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and hosted by the Columban Mission Center.
By Catherine Walsh, Features Writer
— The joy I found on the U.S.-Mexico border in May surprised me. I heard horrific stories of people fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, Haiti and Ukraine, but I also saw countless kindnesses by migrants and those who help them while I was in El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico, with the Sisters of Mercy to learn why people are coming to the border in ever higher numbers. I heard people say that the Southern Border is the new Ellis Island.
Following are photos capturing our time at the border.
By Sister Theresa Saetta — As Sister Pat Mulderick and I woke up to a bright and shiny day, we learned that the tent city camp in Reynosa, Mexico, that housed over 2,000 immigrants awaiting asylum in the USA was bulldozed. The families had to scramble to collect their important documents while the authorities screamed at them to get out…now!
By Kayla Buxton, Program Coordinator, Mercy Ecospirituality Center — As the seasons change and we in the Northern Hemisphere emerge from another COVID winter, I’ve been thinking about place, how to live authentically from our roots, and what happens to us when we build relationship with the land we call home.
By Mercy Volunteer Susan Donnelly — Some days, the world around us may feel like “stayin’ alive” is a reasonable goal. Here at Mercy Center we hope and work for so much more.
By Liz Dossa — Clearly, Amy is called to this ministry of empathy. “I think of the Tenderloin as a space of hope and light. In the midst of such adversity, people are caring for the community and for one another.”