Diocesan priests visit facilities on and over the border

By William T. Clew
The Catholic Free Press
Four diocesan priests spent three days on the U.S.-Mexican border recently to observe the ministries of the Catholic Church that serve migrants on both sides of the border.
Taking part were Father Peter J. Joyce, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Milford; Father William E. Champlin, pastor of St. Leo Parish, Leominster; Father Stephen E. Lundrigan, pastor of Annunciation Parish, Gardner, and Father Hugo A. Cano, chaplain at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Father James Manship, of the Archdiocese of Hartford, also was part of the group.
They arrived at the border near Brownsville, Texas, Jan. 30 and returned Feb. 1. The trip was under the auspices of the Catholic Extension’s Mission Immersion Program for Pastors. Father Joyce said the trip was a way to give them an awareness of the Church’s work with the poor.
According to Tim Muldoon, director of Mission Education at Catholic Extension, the trip was funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Thriving in Ministry initiative to give pastors the opportunity to understand the realities in poor parts of the United States.
Father Lundrigan said they went to the Texas-Mexico border “to see both sides of the border and the situation of migrants” seeking asylum, the hardships they go through because of dangerous conditions or lack of necessities in their home countries.
Many were from Central America, but, in a longer-term shelter they visited, there were people from countries around the world seeking asylum, Father Lundrigan said.
The group visited the Humanitarian Respite Center, operated by Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley for immigrants seeking asylum who have been allowed to stay in the U.S. to connect with relatives already here. Father Lundrigan said they have no clothes except those they are wearing.
At the center, the Church provides food, clothing and shelter for the immigrants. Donations, some of them  in-kind, pay for the food and clothing. Volunteers help immigrants get in touch with their relatives and make arrangements for bus rides to reach their relatives.
Father Joyce said that without the efforts of the Church, its religious and volunteers in the area, “this would be a huge crisis.”
Sister Norma Pimentel, director of the center, is called the Mother Teresa of the border, Father Cano said. She suggested that those who have doubts about immigrants and refugees should go and talk to them and hear their stories, he said. It will change their minds.
Father  Champlin, said the trip inspired him to plan a Lenten project for pupils in St. Leo School, and for parishioners, called Shoelaces for Texas. He said that when the migrants apply for asylum and enter the detention center, their shoelaces are cut off so they can’t use them to hurt themselves. So, when they then move on to the respite center, they have no shoelaces.
He said he also wants to put together a program to show photographs and talk with parishioners about the visit. He said the trip was a wonderful way to experience the Church in a different way. He saw the Church building churches and responding to the needs of people.    
According to information provided by Mr. Muldoon, the priests met about 150 people who were released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). About 125,000 people have passed through the center since it opened in 2014, according to Mr. Muldoon.
The group also visited the Inn of Providence (La Posada Providencia) run by the Sisters of Divine Providence since 1989. Immigrants stay there while waiting asylum court proceedings, Mr. Muldoon wrote.They also visited a medical clinic and shelter run by the Vincentian Sisters in Reynosa, Mexico, for immigrants  who were turned away from the border and can’t go back to the countries they  left.
On the final day the group visited the Human Development Project (Proyecto Desarollo Humano). It is a ministry of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Father Joyce said that it is an agricultural area where people have settled. He said the sisters helped create the community with a health clinic and assistance to the residents.
Father Cano said visiting the border was like visiting the Holy Land. You can see how the Bible and Divine revelation is manifested there in the faith of the people. It is a place of suffering, struggle and anxiety but it also is a beacon of hope for the Church in the United States.
He said he was impressed by the religious sisters who work with the immigrants and refugees. It is hard work. And, rather than taking vacations, volunteers, some of them from northern states, also come to the area to do the work for as long as three months.     
“This is a complex problem,” Father Lundrigan said of the situation of migrants seeking asylum. “It’s not just, ‘Everyone’s a criminal’ or ‘everyone’s not.’ … ‘Keep them all out’ or ‘Let them all in.’”
People need to cease the political fighting and find a solution; the longer they wait “the more individuals are placed at risk,” he said.
Finding a solution will require significant cooperation among government, industry, churches and social service systems, he said.
Questions include: How should the problem be addressed, fulfilling humanitarian and Christian responsibilities to assist people, taking into consideration safety and security, given the present structures in the United States? How do those structures need to be modified for “a sane policy?”
Asked what he brought back, he said, “The severity of the plight of the individuals involved,” and the numbers of people involved; “this is a bigger problem than I thought.” He said there are many people in fragile, vulnerable situations, in “no man’s land” between countries.
He also brings back the knowledge of the wonderful work volunteers, religious sisters and the two dioceses are doing to provide the love and service that Jesus Christ calls people to provide for those without clothing, those in prison, etc.
He said that parishioners asked him what they can do, and that they are hoping to do something to help.

– CFP reporter Tanya Connor contributed to this report, as did Tim Muldoon, director of Mission Education at Catholic Extension. Photos by
Rich Kalonick | Catholic Extension.