Sisters visit border to help asylum-seekers

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

A Hispanic woman “changed” her birthday because of her devotion – and was protected.
An African woman lived through horror – and gave life.    
Local religious sisters told these stories of women they met at the U.S.-Mexico border when volunteering there last month.
Sister Dorothy Scesny and Sister Paula Cormier, Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said they responded to an invitation the Leadership Conference of Women Religious sent to sisters throughout the United States. LCWR was seeking volunteers to work with people who’ve come over the border into the U.S. They worked in Texas Feb. 6-21.
 Sister Paula, a retired sister living at Sacred Heart Convent in Fitchburg, said she worked with Sisters of Loreto in El Paso.
Sister Dorothy, director of mission and spiritual care at St. Mary Health Care in Worcester, worked with Sisters of Divine Providence in San Benito, near Brownsville.     
Sister Paula said the best thing she saw on the trip was a T-shirt an American wore; it had a picture of women and the words, “We are the wall.” To her that meant, “We don’t need a wall. Who we are, reaching out to one another – that’s all we need.”
The center where she served can ask for “a meal for 100 people tomorrow” and El Paso residents generously provide it, she said.
That center, Casa Nazareth, was spawned by the original one, Annunciation House, which was started 40 years ago, she said. Casa Nazareth offers asylum-seekers food, clothing and shelter and contacts the hosts they are to live with while awaiting a hearing, she said.
She said she did intake interviews, as she has worked with Spanish-speakers for years – in Peru, Clinton, Fitchburg and New York. In Peru she had been trained to meet basic health needs, so she did that at Casa Nazareth too.
“I was revisiting something that had been part of my past,” she marveled.
The experience had its sorrows too.
“I was in distress,” thinking about St. Oscar Romero, Sister Paula said of the archbishop in El Salvador assassinated in 1980 after speaking out for justice. “He gave his life.… There’s still such corruption in the country.” That’s why people flee, she said.
She told of a man who said he made good money as a mechanic in his home country, but couldn’t provide for his family because of exorbitant taxes. In some cases, people would threaten to kill the children if their parents didn’t pay tax, she said.
She said it was very sad to hear people’s stories, the struggles they went through to get here, not knowing if they could stay.
“It’s amazing how people still have hope … and the faith,” she said. “They prayed their way along the journey.”
One woman, Maria del Carmen, named for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, claimed July 16, that feast of the Blessed Mother, as her birthday, because of her devotion, Sister Paula said. She said Maria’s actual birthday was July 15.
She said Maria knew the Blessed Mother was taking care of her. She arrived at the border on top of a truck with six men. Five were smoking marijuana; the sixth was “like an angel to her.”
Sister Paula said she thought many of the asylum-seekers were Catholic and they were happy to be in a Catholic center. She said she was grateful to learn about the good things people are doing.
“I would like to begin with my gratitude to my community and to St. Mary Health Care for allowing me the two weeks,” Sister Dorothy said. She said she worked at La Posada Providencia, founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence 30 years ago.
She told of a woman from Africa whom La Posada calls Shalom to protect her identity, who was raped after doing political activism against her government. She escaped to the U.S., where she learned she was pregnant from the rape and was encouraged to have an abortion.
“God spared my life; I am not going to take the life of this child,” she decided. She gave birth to a son and named him Emmanuel.
Magda Bolland, La Posada’s interim director, said the reason Shalom chose to name her baby Emmanuel (which means “God with us”) is because “she’s very religious; it does have to do with Jesus Christ.”
Sister Dorothy said Shalom works in La Posada’s kitchen, does housekeeping elsewhere, studies for her GED and hopes to become a nurse. She said she told Shalom that St. Mary’s in Worcester has hired nurses from Africa, and that “gave her such hope.”
Some people are brought to La Posada in vehicles marked “border patrol” or “detention center,” Sister Dorothy said. Others are picked up by the sisters.
Sister Dorothy said what she’ll bring back from La Posada is the inspiration she received from the religious sisters who work there.
“I was so impressed with their passion for mission,” she said. “They could get a call at 3 o’clock in the morning and go to the bus stop or the airport to pick someone up.”
Those staying at the center are taken to Catholic or other area churches on Sundays, Sister Dorothy said. Weekdays they’re taught English in classes and through picture Bingo.
“I took the children for the classes,” she said. “I was just in my element,” having taught school in the Worcester diocese and elsewhere.
Class begins with the pledge of allegiance, Sister Dorothy said, “and I was choking on the words ‘with liberty and justice for all,’… because I don’t feel we are giving liberty or justice to people who are fleeing for their lives.” The students also sing “God Bless America.” After all, they’re coming here to be American citizens, she said.
They all have chores, but one day they were invited to volunteer to clear brush, Sister Dorothy said. Everyone helped, including children and a disabled man, and she bought them pizza with some of the money people here had donated, she said.         
She said a resident at St. Mary’s asked, “What can we do besides pray?” Sister Dorothy said people can send financial donations for the work she and Sister Paula helped with.

– Checks made out to  La Posada Providencia can be mailed to: 30094 Marydale Rd., San Benito, TX 78586.
– Checks made out to Annunciation House can be mailed to 1003 East San Antonio Ave., El Paso, TX 79901.