Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Cabrini Immigrant Services Hails Nutrition Grads

May 18, 2022

Cabrini Immigrant Services (CIS), Dobbs Ferry, NY, completed its second Nutrition Program.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing, we were not able to accommodate all the students this past Fall 2021. On May 11th, after an eight-week program, our participants received their Certificates of Completion from Lucy Diaz, a Nutrition Program Educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County. The course, ‘Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program’, taught the participants about how to read and understand labels on different food and drink items, food safety, reducing salt and sugar intake, etc.

In addition to receiving a Certificate of Completion for the course, everyone received an insulated bag filled with many goodies such as a meat thermometer, refrigerator thermometer, hand sanitizer, etc.
Congratulations to all our ‘graduates’ of the nutrition program.

We are so proud of you!

Government to Lift Health Measure That Blocks Entrance of Asylum Seekers

April 7, 2022

~ by Rhina Guidos – Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has confirmed that it will lift a public health measure in May that was put in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic that has kept asylum seekers out.

Catholic groups that support immigrants have long been calling for an end to Title 42 of the Public Health Safety Act, which the Trump administration began using in March 2020 as infections of the coronavirus began to surge in the U.S.

April 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website, “After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19 – such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics – the CDC director has determined that an order suspending the right to introduce migrants in the United States is no longer necessary.”

Under the provision, Border Patrol agents were instructed to expel anyone caught trying to illegally enter the U.S. instead of processing them under existing immigration law for those seeking asylum.

The Biden administration has taken heat from Catholic groups, among others, for keeping Title 42 in place. Administration officials said it was not immigration policy but a health measure and that the government would take cues from the CDC on when to end it.

Many are expecting an increase in migrants looking for asylum at the southern border when the measure is lifted.
Women religious and their supporters protested outside the White House in December urging Title 42’s demise.

On March 30, 14 Jesuit law and immigrant advocacy institutions – including Jesuit law school deans, the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Border Justice Initiative at Gonzaga Law School – called for Title 42’s end, saying it was “unlawful, dangerous, and inflicts profound suffering on extremely vulnerable people.”

There’s “no present public health justification for its continuation,” they added in a joint letter to President Joe Biden and key members of his administration.”

The U.S. “must rescind Title 42 immediately so that no one is denied the right to seek protection,” Giulia McPherson, Jesuit Refugee Service Director of Advocacy and Operations, said in the letter.

“We know there will be much political theater surrounding this decision, but we urge the administration to remain focused on upholding our nation’s legal and humanitarian obligations to those seeking safety at America’s golden doors,” she said.

To read the entire article, please click

U.S. Sisters Push for COVID Vax as Healthcare Staff Face Burnout

September 23, 2021

U.S. Sisters Push for COVID Vax as Healthcare Staff Face Burnout

After 18 months of turmoil, stress and watching COVID-19 victims die, caregivers at Catholic health facilities are reaching their limits.

“With the delta variant and the number of people who have chosen not to get vaccinated, this fourth COVID surge is the worst they’ve seen,” saidBrian Reardon, Vice-President of Communications and Marketing at the Catholic Health Association, which includes more than 600 hospitals and 1,600 other health facilities in the United States. “The biggest impact is burnout in caregivers and staff. We’re hearing multiple reports that they just can’t take it anymore.”

The majority of CHA facilities were founded by or remained sponsored ministries of Catholic sister. Since the beginning of the pandemic, those sisters and other women religious have been working on the front lines, treating the sick and pushing vaccination efforts amid the delta variant’s takeover of the country.

“It’s just been 18 months of unrelenting stress,” Reardon said. But this surge is especially frustrating because it doesn’t have to be happening,” he added. “People are in the ICU on ventilators. There is a moral obligation for people to get vaccinated.”

Mercy Sr. Karen Scheer has seen that close up in her work as a physician with Holy Redeemer Health System in Philadelphia where she provides primary care to people who are homebound.
“Our primary purpose in life is to live Gospel values and care for one another,” she said. “Getting a vaccine can be an inconvenience, but it can be life-saving. Many people of color are suspicious and understandably so. In Philadelphia, the Black Doctors Consortium has done a lot to reach out to the communities of color and it’s working. It’s providers of color providing care, and that’s the greatest witness.”

Meanwhile, healthcare officials worry what the burnout of caregivers and staff will do to the industry.

“We’re hearing from our members about how concerned they are about not only current workforce issues, but what it’s going to mean long-term” if people leave the field because of stress and burnout, Reardon said.

There is concern because hospitals are full of COVID patients, other things go unchecked: chronic health problems as well as mental and substance abuse, which the social isolation of the pandemic exacerbated.

“There’s a confluence of crises out there, with COVID at the top,” Reardon said.

Study: Immigrant Communities Face Unique Pandemic Challenges

July 21, 2021

~ by Melissa Cedillo, National Catholic Reporter

Early on in the pandemic, Monica Ruiz-Caraballo of Casa San Jose in Pittsburgh knew responding to COVID-19 was going to look different for her community.

“We work with primarily undocumented people who do not qualify for a stimulus check or unemployment benefits,” she explained during a July 14 webinar hosted by the Center for Migration Studies of New York, a non-profit that studies domestic and international immigration issues.

The webinar focused on how Catholic organizations serving immigrant communities in the U.S. adapted during Donald Trump’s administration and the beginning of the pandemic.

The report found that immigrant communities faced difficulties in accessing online services during lockdown periods due to poor internet connection, limited computer access and a lack of communications technology and training.

Alfonso Lara, Director of Centro San Juan Diego of the Denver Archdiocese noted that much of the country’s essential workforce relies on labor from immigrant communities.

“Many of our people are construction workers or domestic workers. They could not stay home or help their kids figure out how to use technology,” said Lara.

The migration center report found that Catholic organizations across the country set up resources to mitigate the blow of the pandemic for immigrant communities, but a looming fear of the previous administration’s immigration enforcement policies prevented immigrants from accessing those services.

During the webinar, a new challenge for immigrant and refugee communities was address: vaccines. Lara said that a lot of people in the Spanish speaking community do not want to get the vaccine because some immigrants believe they can get deported for getting the vaccine which she attributes to misinformation about who is eligible to receive it. To read the full article please click here

Month of May Rosary for COVID Healing Concludes

June 2, 2021

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – At a prayer service on May 31st in the Vatican Gardens, Pope Francis concluded the Catholic Church’s monthlong rosary marathon with special prayers to Mary, Undoer of Knots, one of his favorite titles for the mother of Jesus.

Pope Francis and his guests prayed that Mary will “untie the knots that oppress us materially and spiritually so that we can witness with joy to her son, our Lord Jesus Christ,” said a Vatican news release.

Pope Francis entrusted to the Blessed Virgin five prayer intentions, five knots to undo,”
the statement said. The five are: injured relationships; unemployment; violence, especially domestic violence; universal access to healthcare and vaccines; and the need for renewed pastoral enthusiasm and outreach.

The rosary in the Vatican Gardens concluded a month of special recitations of the rosary from Marian shrines and parishes around the world, all with the intention of asking Mary’s intercession to help end the coronavirus pandemic and to give strength to people working to end it or suffering its effects.

Cabrini Mission Foundation Assists Immigrant Families with Rent

May 19, 2021

As access to COVID-19 vaccines become more readily available, it brings hope the pandemic will soon ease its grip. Our prayers continue for all who grapple with the virus, and we are optimistic here in New York, once the epicenter of COVID-19 cases in the United States, we can soon return to a sense of normalcy.

For our immigrant families, business interruptions and closures have meant a loss of jobs. The lack of working hours over the last year have led to mounting debt. When it comes to paying for food or rent, the choice is obvious. In response to this COVID-19 driven crisis, the Cabrini Mission Foundation offers a rent assistance program for those most impacted.

To qualify, renters must have documented proof of a current lease, a letter from their landlord as well as recommendation from one of our immigrant services caseworkers or immigration attorneys. The current family benefit is $1,000 and Foundation checks go directly to the landlords to cover past due rent.

The Cabrini Mission Foundation has been able to assist 37 families to date with this program. ~ CMF website

Pope Francis Calls for Monthlong Global Prayer Marathon for End of Pandemic

May 3, 2021

Pope Francis Calls for Monthlong Global Prayer Marathon for End of Pandemic
~ by Carol Glatz, Catholic News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has called for a global prayer marathon for the entire month of May, praying for the end to the pandemic.

Anabel Mutune, a third grader at Transfiguration Catholic School in Oakdale, Minn., prays during a Children’s Rosary Pilgrimage at Transfiguration Church in this Oct. 7, 2020, file photo. Pope Francis has called for a global prayer marathon during the Marian month of May to petition God for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. (CNS photo/Dave Hrbacek, The Catholic Spirit)

“The initiative will involve in a special way all shrines in the world” in promoting the initiative so that individuals, families and communities all take part in reciting the rosary, “to pray for the end of the pandemic,” said the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

“It is the heartfelt desire of the Holy Father that the month of May be dedicated to a prayer marathon dedicated to the theme, “from the entire church an unceasing prayer rises to God,’” it said.

The theme refers to the miraculous event recounted in the Acts of the Apostles (12:1-12) when all the church prayed for Peter, who was imprisoned until God sent an angel to free him, illustrating how the Christian community comes together to pray in the face of danger and how the Lord listens and performs an unexpected miracle.

Each day in May, there will be a livestream from one of the 30 chosen Marian sanctuaries to guide the prayer at 6 pm Rome time (noon EDT) on all Vatican media platforms.

Pope Francis will open the monthlong prayer May 1 and conclude it May 31, the council said.

Lack of U.S. Plan for Asylum Seekers Tempers Hope among Migrants and Advocates

April 8, 2021

~ by Soli Salgado, Global Sisters Report

For advocates for migrants and refugees, the response to incoming migrants at the border between the United States and Mexico is a source of emotional tension.

There is a sense of victory for the migrants and refugees who made it into the United States after months or years of uncertainty. However, there are also rising frustrations from potential asylees and activists spurred by the new U.S. presidential administration’s lack of preparation and clarity regarding the ongoing expulsion of asylum seekers.

Joe Biden fulfilled a campaign promise once lauded among immigration activists when he ended the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. The 2019 policy under former President Donald Trump forced more than 70,000 asylum seekers to wait for their U.S. court dates in Mexican border cities.

But no concrete plan for asylum-seekers emerged in its place, so while thousands of migrants were able to enter the United States in triumph since Biden rescinded the MPPs, others who have arrived at the border seeking asylum but who were not affected by the program are being expelled to Mexico.

“We do celebrate the progress that has been made,” said Sr. Tracey Horan, a Sister of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods and Assistant Director of Education and Advocacy for the Kino Border Initiative in Nogoles, Arizona. “At the same time, it doesn’t feel like the response that we’re seeing is equal to the urgency that the people living it are feeling.”

The driving factors that make migrants flee their homes are only adding up, she said: the usual violence and corruption are now met with destruction from hurricanes and extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic.

Ambiguity over action

Immigration advocates bemoan the Biden’s administration’s lack of transparency and clear plans for those who continue their months-or years-long wait to present their cases for asylum, as well as the continuation of the Title 42 policy, a public health order from March 2020 that allows the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to expel migrants to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in holding facilities.

Dylan Corbett, Executive Director of the Hope Border Institute said the government is capable of handling the number of migrants currently crossing the border. But any instability along the border is largely due to the government’s “ambiguous response,” said Corbett, who lives in El Paso, Texas.

Missionary of Jesus Sr. Norma Pimentel agreed, noting that a “crisis” indicates a shortage of options. “But, I think the options are there – they’re just not being put forward,” said Pimentel, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

Biden’s Department of Homeland Security, unlike Trump’s, is not turning away unaccompanied minors at the border. Though the policy is intended to keep vulnerable children safe in the United States, it also tempts parents with the tough choice to send their children north without them.

“When I say ‘children,’ I’m not talking about 15 or 14 years old; I’m talking about 3, 5, 7 years old, completely by themselves,” said Chris Cabrera of the National Border Council, adding he would not have believed it if he had not talked to the children himself.

Joanne Williams, the Executive Director of the Kino Border Initiative remarks that the Biden administration underestimates the desperation of individuals who choose to embark on the dangerous journey north, she added. “People are making rational choices to try to protect their kids as best as they can.”

The best ways to respond

Advocates agree that the United States should work to stabilize the Northern Triangle – Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – so families don’t need to become migrants or refugees at all. They are also clear about how the government can respond to the border’s immediate needs.

As Sr. Horan put it: more health and human resources, fewer troops.

“What we don’t need are more Border Patrol agents,” she said. What we need are social workers and asylum officers and judges, people to accompany these families through the legal process they have a right to.” To read the complete article please click here

UN Commission: COVID-19 Has Made the World Worse for Women

March 31, 2021

UN Commission:
Covid-19 has made World Worse for Women
~ by Chris Herlinger, Global Sisters Report

New York – Despite limitations imposed by the global pandemic, participants in two weeks of United Nations meetings that focused on women’s participation in public life and the need to eliminate violence against women and girls praised the event as a necessary step in advancing gender equality. Participants called the 65th session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women a success, but they also noted a sense of impatience with the pace of progress and said the pandemic year has set back the cause of women’s equality globally.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Executive Director of UN Women, the global body’s secretariat focused on women and girls, said the meetings served as a clear reminder that women believe “that the past and the status quo have not met their need for gender equality.”

But in a March 27 statement, Mlambo-Ngcuka also praised the result of the March meetings which were based at the U.N. headquarters in New York. She said the meetings’ outcome document “recognizes the need to significantly accelerate the pace of progress to ensure women’s full participation and leadership at all levels of decision-making in executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and the public sector.”

The global pandemic “is deepening pre-existing inequalities that perpetuate multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, as well as racism, stigmatization and xenophobia,” she added.

Catholic sisters who participated in numerous online forums held parallel to the formal U.N. events told GSR after the meetings that the event displayed both expected limitations but also new strengths given the change in format. Franciscan Sr. Florence Deacon, who works as justice coordinator for the Sisters of the Holy Cross agrees the global situation for women and girls has become dire this year, given how pandemic-driven lockdowns, loss of jobs and the burden of family situations have mainly fallen on women. Also deeply troubling, she said, has been the rise of domestic violence globally.

Sr. Raquel Hernandez Gonzalez, a Comboni Missionary sister based in Mexico, and Holy Cross Sister Semerita Mbambu, based in Uganda, told of similar plights of women trying to escape environments marked by kidnappings, domestic violence and forced marriages.

Though accounts of struggle were common during the Commission on the Status of Women evtns, Sr. Carol DeAngelo, Director of the Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation of the Sisters of Charity, said the meetings landed on an optimistic spot. However, Sr. Carol underlined the seriousness of women’s status in the world right now because of the pandemic and long-standing inequities.

“Power is not going to be given to us,” she said, adding that it is up to women and male allies to work toward gender equality. To read the complete account please click here

UN Commission: Covid-19 has made World Worse for Women ~ by Chris Herlinger, Global Sisters Report

UN Commission:
Covid-19 has made World Worse for Women
~ by Chris Herlinger, Global Sisters Report