Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Cabrini Health Australia Celebrates Refugee Week: Fostering a Sense of Family and Freedom

June 19, 2024

Refugee Week, June 16-22, celebrates “Finding Freedom” with a significant focus on family, the heart of the refugee journey, which encapsulates resilience and unity.

This sentiment of family resonates deeply within our Cabrini community, where we strive to create an environment that nurtures the human spirit, regardless of background. We celebrate the power of compassion and the impact that a sense of family can have on the lives of those who have weathered unimaginable challenges.

To honour Refugee Week, Margaret Stewart, Group Director, Identity and Mission, had the privilege of spending a day at the Cabrini Outreach Centre in Northcote. She was deeply moved by the staff’s warmth and dedication, which truly embody the spirit of compassion and support for refugees. Their commitment to embracing each individual, offering a sense of belonging and safety, is a testament to Cabrini’s mission of fostering a family-like environment for those in need.

During Refugee Week, the focus is on raising awareness about refugees, their challenges, and the positive impact they have on the Australian community. Cultural events are arranged to foster unity and understanding among communities. At Cabrini, we embrace cultural diversity and celebrate multiculturalism.

Catholic Migrant Shelter in Mexico offers Respite, Solidarity

January 31, 2024

~ by Julieta Valdez, National Catholic Reporter

The Archdiocese of Monterrey, Mexico, founded Casanicolás in 2004. “Just as the Mexican government demands a just treatment of our emigrants in the United States, it should respect the rights of those who come from Central America,” Msgr. Luis Eduardo Villarreal, then director of social ministry for the archdiocese, said at the time.

Casanicolás provides shelter, medical and legal support to thousands of Central and South American migrants every year.
Casanicolás is an apostolate of the parish of Saint Frances Xavier.

Casanicolás, named after St. Nicholas of Tolentine, includes 130 beds across three buildings, one for women and two for men.

Monsignor Luis Eduardo Villarreal, ordained 42 years ago, has been the parish priest of the Church of San Francisco Xavier, a few blocks from Casanicolás.

“Our migrants arrive in Casanicolás worn out and traumatized by the mistreatment they receive in national territory. Here in Mexico is where the migrants suffer the most on their journey. Extortion, kidnapping, robbery, beatings, threats…it’s hell,” Villarreal said.

The priest is also a professor at Universidad Libre de Derecho, a law school, where he teaches socioeconomic problems of Mexico and oversees an immigration law clinic.

“The migrant is a good person who contributes work, culture, and life projects to places where he or she arrives; the rest are myths and not realities,” he said.

“Casanicolas’ vision is to humanize human mobility,” said Philippe Stoesslé, professor-researcher of law and social sciences at the University of Monterrey.

“I admire Monsignor Luis Eduardo. Having achieved so much, he is an extremely humble person. He is very close to his parishioners and the migrants at the shelter,” he said.

“Villarreal has taught me a deep understanding of Christian mercy, which includes welcoming migrants, but also one that includes protection, security, warm human treatment, guidance and spiritual accompaniment, knowing the people by name and not just as numbers.

“He has a vision of mercy, empathy, infinite compassion and human rights. He is sensitive to the protection and promotion of human rights, which goes hand in hand with his Christian profile of guaranteeing dignity to all human beings,” Stoesslé said.

From 2019 to 2023, Casanicolás has sheltered 4,000 to 7,700 migrants per year. Since 2021, the number of adults accompanied by minors has increased.

Villarreal told NCR that Casanicolás’ fundamental purpose is theological.

“We want to give a response to the Gospel, because we believe in the project of the Gospel,” he said. “A project of brotherhood and solidarity between one and other. And this shelter is a sign that it is possible that the last shall be the first.”

To read the full account, please click here

In Heated Political Season, Religious Sisters Urge Empathy on Immigration

January 25, 2024

~ by Rhina Guidos, National Catholic Reporter

As immigration becomes a hot-button topic in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, women religious and other Catholics urge a compassionate Christian response toward people feeling perilous situations in record breaking numbers.

“If we changed what was being preached at our pulpits and talked about a God who migrates towards us, we’d have a different understanding of what people on the move, migrants, are about,” said Sr. Lisa Buscher, of the Society of the Sacred Heart, in a January 8th interview with the Global Sisters Report (GSR).

In December, authorities documented more than 225,000 migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border, a record for monthly encounters. It was not a surprise since the government had released figures two months earlier of more than 2.4 million apprehensions at the southern border in the 2023 fiscal year which ended in September.

Some Republican state leaders have transported migrants from border cities to localities run by Democrats, spurring politicians on both sides of the aisle urging the federal government to do something to stop the flow. Some have publicly voiced their frustrations, and Republican and Democrats in the Senate are working together on an agreement: Their deal would grant the Biden’s administration request for money for Ukraine if it agrees to limit a temporary status called humanitarian parole, which has allowed a large number of migrants — including from Ukraine and Nicaragua — to stay in the United States.

For women religious like Sr. Buscher, who work with migrants and refugees in the San Diego area, it’s hard to understand the sentiments.
Sr. Buscher urged people to look more critically at global migration. Conflicts such as Russia’s war against Ukraine; conflicts in place such as continental Africa; economic and political conditions in Latin America; and climate change and hunger, she said, have spurred a global flow of people with the U.S. one of many destinations for migrants.

“These are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. It could be any one of us,” she said.

In the Catholic tradition, she said, the Holy Family had to deal with similar challenges as Joseph and Mary fled their homeland to protect the baby Jesus from being killed by King Herod.

Sr. Maria delos Dolores Palencia Gomez, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyon, who works with migrants in Mexico, said it’s hard to know what she’d say to U.S. politicians who boast about their Christianity yet “use” anti-immigrant sentiment to attract voters.

“I don’t think it’s possible, as Catholics, to feel exempt from reaching out to a brother or sister. It’s enough to look at [the Gospel of] Matthew, which clearly tells us: you clothed me, I was a foreigner and you welcomed me,” Palencia told GSR during a press conference in Bogotá, Colombia Nov. 24.

To read the full account, please click here

Editor’s note: Global Sisters Report launches a new series, “Welcoming the Stranger,” which takes a closer look at women religious working with immigrants and migrants. The series will feature sisters and organizations networking to better serve those crossing borders, global migration trends and the topic of immigration in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

World Day of Migrants and Refugees September 24, 2023

September 19, 2023

A message from Pope Francis:

The migratory flows of our times are the expression of a complex and varied phenomenon that, to be properly understood, requires a careful analysis of every aspect of its different stages, from departure to arrival, including the possibility of return. As a contribution to this effort, I have chosen to devote the Message for the 109th World Day of Migrants and Refugees to the freedom that should always mark the decision to leave one’s native land.

“Free to leave, free to stay” was the title of an initiative of solidarity promoted several years ago by the Italian Episcopal Conference as a concrete response to the challenges posed by contemporary migration movements. From attentive listening to the Particular Churches, I have come to see that ensuring that that freedom is a widely shared pastoral concern.

“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him” (Mt 2:13). The flight of the Holy Family into Egypt was not the result of a free decision, nor were many of the migrations that marked the history of the people of Israel. The decision to migrate should always be free, yet in many cases, even in our day, it is not. Conflicts, natural disasters, or more simply the impossibility of living a dignified and prosperous life in one’s native land is forcing millions of persons to leave. Already in 2003, Saint John Paul II stated that “as regards migrants and refugees, building conditions of peace means in practice being seriously committed to safeguarding first of all the right not to emigrate, that is, the right to live in peace and dignity in one’s own country” (Message for the 90th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 3).

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:35-36). These words are a constant admonition to see in the migrant not simply a brother or sister in difficulty, but Christ himself, who knocks at our door. Consequently, even as we work to ensure that in every case migration is the fruit of a free decision, we are called to show maximum respect for the dignity of each migrant; this entails accompanying and managing waves of migration as best we can, constructing bridges and not walls, expanding channels for a safe and regular migration. In whatever place we decide to build our future, in the country of our birth or elsewhere, the important thing is that there always be a community ready to welcome, protect, promote and integrate everyone, without distinctions and without excluding anyone.

The synodal path that we have undertaken as a Church leads us to see in those who are most vulnerable – among whom are many migrants and refugees – special companions on our way, to be loved and cared for as brothers and sisters. Only by walking together will we be able to go far and reach the common goal of our journey.

To read the entirety of Pope Francis’ message, please click here

For further information, please click here

Uncertainty Lingers as Expected Title 42 Migrant Surge Dissipate

May 18, 2023

~ by Rhina Guidos, National Catholic Reporter

Fr. Gustavo Meneses said he felt a “tense peace” in El Paso after a pandemic-era health rule expired, opening up the way for migrants to once again apply for asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico – something that has been largely curtailed since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The priest said he was in El Paso to show solidarity with the border diocese and tend to a large group of migrants that had been expected to cross the border as Title 42 ended. Instead, Meneses said he was “thankfully surprised” that predictions of a large-scale disaster didn’t materialize.

The Trump administration put Title 42 in place in March 2020 and though there were some exceptions, by and large, it allowed Border Patrol agents to rapidly expel those seeking to apply for asylum in the U.S., saying it was a measure taken to keep Covid-19 infections down.

Many Catholic organizations, including women religious, Catholic social justice groups, and some bishops, long had been calling for the policy to end.

Its lifting, however, comes with uncertainty about what’s to come, as those who work with migrants and those who oppose immigration are trying to untangle yet-to-be finalized immigration policies and rules recently unveiled by the Biden administration.

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz told NCR the concern is for those in detention as well as the released.

The worry for those like Seitz, Meneses and Corbett is the lack of humane treatment toward migrants like Anyibeth Urdneta, a 37 year-old indigenous Venezuelan, who had arrived at the diocese’s shelter on May 13. Urdaneta said she was sold into marriage as a teen and was escaping an abusive husband as well as violence from cartels, not easy to do in the midst of her country’s spiraling economy. She said that she was terrified of the idea of crossing into the U.S. but felt she had no choice.

“We’re still dealing with the aftermath of the pre-May 12th surge…and we really want to avoid [a situation] where there are hundreds of people dropped in the streets as temperatures rise. Right now, we’re trying to gear up for that,” Seitz said.

But first, they’re paying attention to the recently released like Urdaneta.

“Voces de Mujeres” A Welcome Support for Women

March 16, 2023

In November 2022 Cabrini Immigrant Services of NYC started the latest cycle of our support group for women, “Voces de Mujeres.” While the group was supposed to end this month, we decided to extend the group due to its popularity and the meaningful relationships the women have developed. This virtual support group has provided a safe space for women to share, to heal, and to learn about themselves and other women’s struggles.

Some of the topics that women have requested are: grieving (honoring our dead), self-compassion, forgiveness, domestic violence, self-care, romantic relationships, women’s role in society, depression, and self-esteem. Yeniset, who has participated in the group said, “To listen to the other women helped me learn a lot through their experiences and to realize that we all go through difficult situations and that we are not alone.” This cycle nearly 80 women have participated in the group and benefitted from the support provided by their peers over the course of 12 sessions

Immigrant Advocacy at the Forefront

March 8, 2023

In recent weeks, Cabrini Immigrant Services of NYC (CIS-NYC) staff and Justice for Immigrants members have been busy taking action in New York City and Albany to advocate for the needs of our immigrant community in New York State.

On February 14th, Justice for Immigrants members gathered for an action outside of Governor Hochul’s NYC office to support #Coverage4All, which would create a state-funded health insurance program for ALL low-income New Yorkers regardless of immigration status. One of our members, Barbara, shared her experience of being unable to access care for her son due to being undocumented and uninsured. On the same day, CIS-NYC’s Staff Attorneys, Dalilah and Ariana, went to Albany to support the CARE for Immigrant Families campaign, which is fighting for vital state funding for immigration legal services and the passage of the Access to Representation Act, which would to ensure a right to counsel for all immigrants facing deportation in New York.

Last week, a group of our Justice for Immigrants members also traveled to Albany where they had the opportunity to speak to elected officials about the need to pass #Coverage4All. Members took part in a press conference and a creative action where they delivered messages in pill bottles to the Governor’s office.

Lastly, this week another group of Justice for Immigrants members traveled to Albany as part of the Worker Solidarity Day of Action where they took part in an action and meetings with elected officials to advocate for the passage of the Unemployment Bridge Program. This program would create an unemployment benefit program for all excluded workers in New York (including undocumented immigrant workers).

We are so proud of our incredible members and staff who have shown up, braved the early mornings and cold, used their voices, shared their stories, and given their time to ensure that these vital proposals become a reality this year! ~ submitted by Ella Nimmo, CIS-NYC

You can join us in supporting these campaigns by clicking the links below for more information:

• CARE for Immigrant Families

• #Coverage4All

• Unemployment Bridge Program

Cabrini University CRS Panel Spotlights Immigrants’ Struggles and Courage

February 16, 2023

In last week’s Update, there was an announcement regarding a Catholic Relief Services Ambassadors’ panel on immigration that was to be held on February 9th on the campus of Cabrini University. The following is an account on the panel written by Dr. Jerry Zurek, Professor, Communications Department, Cabrini University and Coordinator, CRS – Cabrini University Partnership.

It was such a moving event. Sr. Christine Marie Baltas, MSC and Sr. Bridget Zanin, MSC were there and each spoke to the students in the Q&A.

Five students, from Nepal, Benin, Liberia, Ecuador, and Guinea, presented a small aspect of their life journey to fellow students, to faculty and staff, to the Missionary Sisters, and to the university president, Ms. Helen Drinan. They spoke of the many trials each had to undergo. Two had lived in refugee camps. All spoke of how difficult their coming had been, especially for their mothers who were the ones who brought them.

They all spoke about their mothers and the love they must have had for their children as they struggled to help their children have more opportunities. This video of the panel is unlisted, which means only those who have this link can see it. https://youtu.be/0FWUbCgvHdw

All through the panel I thought of Mother Cabrini, who also came to the United States not knowing English, not sure of where she would live, but just like our students, found her way in the US and helped so many migrants here and around the world. She must surely be looking down at these and other students and is blessing their way into the future. These students have been a gift to all of us at Cabrini University and will be a gift to the many people whose lives they will touch.

In an email to these students, Dr. Zurek wrote:

Dear Puja, Noelie, Johnson, Gabriela, and Fanta,

I want to thank you for presenting a small aspect of your life journey to your fellow students, to faculty and staff, to Cabrini sisters, and to the university president. I hope you could feel the appreciation all of us had for your courage, faith, and determination. You inspire all of us. All of you spoke about your mothers and the love they must have had for you as they tried to help you have more opportunities. I thought of them as you spoke and how proud they must be of you as they see you succeeding so brilliantly in your studies. This video of the panel is unlisted, which means only those who have this link can see it. Perhaps they might want to hear you speak. https://youtu.be/0FWUbCgvHdw

As I said last night, Mother Cabrini (Saint Frances Cabrini), who came to the United States in 1889, not knowing English, not sure of where she would live, but just like you, found her way in the US and helped so many migrants here and around the world, must surely be looking down at you and blessing your way into the future. You have been a gift to all of us at Cabrini University, as you are to your families, and will be to the many people whose lives you will touch.

With gratitude,

Jerry Zurek, Ph.D.
Pronouns: he/him
Professor, Communication Department, Cabrini University
Coordinator, CRS – Cabrini University Partnership

Migrant Pleas, Border Realities confront President Biden in El Paso

January 11, 2023

~ by Maria-Pia Chin, National Catholic Reporter

“Lord, I ask that you take me out of here soon … I want to be with my mom and sister soon. Amen.”

The prayer of a migrant girl in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, neatly written on the back of a card with the image of the Sacred Heart, was one of the mementos President Joe Biden acquired from his time at the U.S.-Mexico border. Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, handed the president this prayer card toward the end of his visit to El Paso.

The president met with the bishop of this border city, who is the new chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, as well as other local officials and community leaders earlier that day.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with Border Patrol officers as he walks along the border fence during his visit to the U.S.-Mexico border to assess border enforcement operations in El Paso, Texas, Jan. 8, 2023. (OSV News photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

In this first trip to the border since he took office, Biden, who is Catholic, sought to “assess border enforcement operations” and talk to those helping to manage “the historic number of migrants fleeing political oppression and gang violence in Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba,” according to the White House.

Biden’s visit — which lasted a few hours — came amid criticism over how he is handling the humanitarian crisis at the southern border.
Upon his arrival the afternoon of Jan. 8, Biden greeted local officials, Seitz and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who like Biden is also Catholic. Abbott presented Biden with a letter condemning the president’s approach to immigration.

The president then went to the Bridge of the Americas — which connects El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico — where he observed border officers demonstrate how they search vehicles for drugs and other contraband.

Next, he made an unscheduled stop to walk along a metal border fence that separates the U.S. city from Ciudad Juárez and to speak with Border Patrol agents.

At that time, Biden was asked by journalists what he had learned at the border. “They need a lot of resources, and we’re going to get it for them,” he answered.

His last stop was the El Paso County Migrant Services Center, where workers greet people released from Border Patrol and help them find transportation and other needed services.

He greeted local elected officials, activists and community leaders there, including Seitz, Ruben Garcia of Annunciation House, and Sr. Norma Pimentel of the Missionaries of Jesus, who heads Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas.
Sr. Pimentel said the President’s presence at the border was significant. Sr. Pimentel stressed the need to come together as a community — including the city government, Border Patrol and faith-based communities — to safeguard people’s dignity while creating policies to face the issue of migration.
“One of the things that we as church, especially people of faith, want to make sure not to ever lose sight of is the fact that they’re people, they’re human beings, they’re families, they’re children, and we cannot lose sight of that,” she said at the news briefing. “I hope this is the beginning of further actions.”

“What we’re trying to do is broadly incentivize a safe and orderly way, and cut out the smuggling organizations,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during the flight to El Paso, according to a pool report.

“They’ve sold everything they own just to be able to make the trip and made this perilous 3,000-mile journey,” Seitz said. “They finally arrive in Ciudad Juárez, for instance, and then what? Where do they go?”

To read the full account please click here

Immigration Reform Needed: NOW!

November 16, 2022

The United States needs comprehensive immigration reform! The last time the United States significantly changed its method for awarding visas was in 1965, when Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This law changed the immigration system from one based on country-of-origin limits to one based on family reunification

A majority of Americans agree that Congress should pass bipartisan legislation to permanently protect Dreamers and TPS holders so these people can continue to live, work and contribute to the only country they have called their home.

With the DACA program so vulnerable in the courts, the risks to Dreamers and particularly DACA recipients could not be more urgent. We are urging you to help push Congress to pass a bill now to protect Dreamers and other people who are undocumented. If DACA is halted in court, an estimated 1,000 DACA recipients could lose their deferred action status and work permits each week, causing severe harm in the healthcare, education, food production and service industries, all of which are experiencing shortages. Getting any deal will unquestionably demand compromise, such as extreme border security measures. There is a chance reforms on recapturing lost visas, improved case processing, and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act might also be included if a deal comes together.

Midterm elections have taken place so, NOW, is the time for action!

CALL: Your Senators and ask them to reform and modernize our immigration system. If you do not know your Senator’s phone number, dial 202-224-3121 and a switchboard operator will help connect you directly to the correct office. Post on social media (Facebook, Twitter) asking your contacts to join in on the action!

Guadalupe Province Immigration Commission
Sr. Yolanda Flores, MSC
Sr. Pietrina Raccuglia, MSC
Sr. Roselle Santivasi, MSC

Sr. Lucille Souza, MSC

Karol Brewer