Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

June 20th is World Refugee Day

June 18, 2019

World Refugee Day 2019 is on June 20th. This is an annual event, held on the same date each year, and 2019 is the 19th year of the event, run by the United Nations Refugee Agency, to state that the world supports and stands with refugees. The event is about raising global awareness of global responsibility for refugees.

World Refugee Day honors the strength and courage of refugees and encourages public awareness and support of the refugees, people who have had to flee their home lands because of conflict or natural disaster.

Refugees are vulnerable and in need, and are often misunderstood and maligned, and often have very little or nothing of their possessions and little food, they often have to leave their homes with nothing or with what they can carry. They suffer cold, hunger, trauma, despair, disease, violence and loss. The awareness day is to help public understanding of refugees as well as raising support and help.

Across the world, agencies, both governmental and non-governmental, work tirelessly to help refugees, but with people being made refugees daily, more help and awareness is constantly needed, to ensure that refugees are treated fairly and provided for, rather than being neglected or shunned, and there are projects to re-settle and provide for refugees. So World Refugee Day highlights all of this.

The United Nations Refugee Agency and thousands of civic groups around the globe host events to raise awareness of the plight of refugees.
It is observed in more than 100 countries and involves government officials, humanitarian workers, celebrities, civilians and refugees. This year’s theme is Global Compact on Refugees.
Background
Every minute, 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. There are several types of forcibly displaced persons:

Refugees
A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters.

Asylum Seekers
Asylum seekers say they are refugees and have fled their homes as refugees do, but their claim to refugee status is not yet definitively evaluated in the country to which they fled.

Internally Displaced Persons
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have not crossed an international border but have moved to a different region than the one they call home within their own country.

Stateless Persons
Stateless persons do not have a recognized nationality and do not belong to any country.
Statelessness situations are usually caused by discrimination against certain groups. Their lack of identification — a citizenship certificate — can exclude them from access to important government services, including health care, education or employment.

US Bishops Respond to National Guard Troops at Mexico Border

April 17, 2018

In response to announcements regarding deploying the United States National Guard to the U.S./Mexico Border, the U.S. Catholic Bishops of the U.S./Mexico Border issued the following statement:

We are deeply concerned by the announcement that the National Guard will be deployed on the U.S./Mexico Border. The continued militarization of the U.S./Mexico Border distorts the reality of life on the border; this is not a war zone but instead is comprised of many peaceful and law-abiding communities that are also generous in their response to human suffering. We recognize the right of nations to control and secure their borders; we also recognize the need of nations to respect the rule of law. Current law in the United States rightly provides that those arriving to our country fleeing persecution are entitled to due-process as their claims are reviewed. Seeking refuge from persecution and violence in search of a peaceful life for oneself and one’s family is not a crime. Our faith calls us to respond with compassion to those who suffer, and to live in a spirit of solidarity with all human beings. We remain hopeful that our local, state and federal officials will work collaboratively and prudently in the implementation of this deployment, ensuring that the presence of the National Guard is measured and not disruptive to community life. We are also deeply concerned that at this time divisive rhetoric often promotes the dehumanization of immigrants, as if all were threats and criminals. We urge Catholics and people of good will to look past the dehumanizing rhetoric regarding immigrants and remember that they are a vulnerable population, our neighbors, and our sisters and brothers in Christ. ~ United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, Archdiocese of San Antonio

Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Diocese of Brownsville

Bishop Michael J. Sis, Diocese of San Angelo

Bishop James Tamayo, Diocese of Laredo

Bishop Mark J. Seitz, Diocese of El Paso

Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Diocese of Tucson

Bishop Robert W. McElroy, Diocese of San Diego

Bishop Oscar Cantú, Diocese of Las Cruses

Deporting DACA Students Not in Public Interest

February 8, 2018

In a recent edition of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), the newspaper noted that it had received the following statement for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Conference of Education Deans which was signed by 19 members of that conference which is comprised of deans and professors for schools of education at Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States:

“As the education deans of the nation’s Jesuit colleges and universities, we are compelled to join our university presidents and others who have raised their collective voices to support our DACA students. Through our work, we prepare the teachers, principals, and other education support providers for the youth of our nation. The Jesuit education tradition values the right of all peoples to a meaningful and quality education, which is transformative for both the learner and the teacher. Our DACA students are no exception. Through no fault of their own, they came to the United States in search of opportunities. They have been documented and thoroughly vetted, are among our most successful students, and are preparing for positions of leadership and service in various industries in the United States. Deporting these young people just as they are poised to make strong contributions to this country – after investing so many resources to educate them in our public schools – is poor public policy and not in the public interest.

“As education leaders, we are aware of the unintended consequences that deportation, or even the threat of deportation, has on an entire school community. For example, in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) – the second largest in the country – roughly one in four students is undocumented or has a parent who is undocumented. This reality forces the question – what are the unintended consequences for our school communities under a constant threat of deportation?

“DACA students contribute greatly to the common good of American society. The United States of America is their home. They participated in the DACA program in good faith and have much to offer this country through their hard work and talent. We cannot betray them by ending the DACA program and sending them to countries they do not even know. As a society, we cannot afford the unintended educational consequences such policy actions would have. We urge our leaders to find a permanent solution for the DACA program for the benefit of our youth and our country.“

Do Not Let Fear Lead to a Refusal to Help Those in Need says Pope Francis

January 17, 2018

by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Family members bring up the offertory gifts as Pope Francis celebrates Mass marking the World Day of Migrants and Refugees in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 14. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See POPE-MIGRANTS-MASS Jan. 14, 2018.

Being afraid and concerned about the impact of migration is not a sin, Pope Francis said, but it is a sin to let those fears lead to a refusal to help people in need.

“The sin is to allow these fears to determine our responses, to limit our choices, to compromise respect and generosity, to feed hostility and rejection,” the Pope said on January 14^th, celebrating Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

While fear is a natural human reaction, he said, “the sin is to refuse to encounter the other, the different, the neighbor, when this is in fact a privileged opportunity to encounter the Lord.”

According to the United Nations, an estimated 258 million people are living outside the country of their birth. The number includes 26 million refugees and asylum seekers, who were forced to flee their homelands because of war or persecution.

“His invitation ‘Come and see!’ is addressed today to all of us, to local communities and to new arrivals,” the Pope said. “It is an invitation to overcome our fears so as to encounter the other, to welcome, to know and to acknowledge him or her.”

For the migrants and refugees, he said, that includes learning about and respecting the laws and customs of their host countries. “It even includes understanding their fears and apprehensions for the future,” he added.

For people in the host countries, he said, it means welcoming newcomers, opening oneself “without prejudices to their rich diversity,” understanding their hopes, fears and vulnerabilities and recognizing their potential.

‘In the true encounter with the neighbor, are we capable of recognizing Jesus Christ who is asking to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated?” Pope Francis asked.

“It is not easy to enter into another culture, to put oneself in the shoes of people so different from us, to understand their thoughts and their experiences,” the pope said. That is one reason why “we often refuse to encounter the other and raise barriers to defend ourselves.”

People in host countries may be afraid that newcomers “will disturb the established order (or) will ‘steal’ something they have long labored to build up,” he said. And the newcomers have their own fears “of confrontation, judgment, discrimination, failure.”

Both set of fears, the pope said, “are legitimate, based on doubts that are fully comprehensible from a human point of view.”

Sin, he said, enters the equation only when people refuse to try to understand, to welcome, to see Jesus present in the other, especially “the poor, the rejected, the refugee, the asylum seeker.”

~ Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Immigration-rights advocates say Homeland Security Uses Minors as ‘bait’

December 14, 2017

Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) and seven other immigrant-rights organizations filed a complaint Dec. 7 with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Office of Inspector General.

The complaint is on behalf of the approximately 400 people arrested this summer in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement effort that the groups allege used unaccompanied minors as bait: When parents and other relatives came forward to sponsor children who would otherwise be kept in detention centers, they were arrested and detained.

“How is it in America’s safety interests to keep these boys and girls in government-run shelters while their families are flung into chaos and potential deportation?” CLINIC executive director Jeanne Atkinson asked in a statement announcing the complaint.

“Not only do ICE and other agencies of Homeland Security misrepresent themselves in order to obtain information about the families of children, these efforts ensure that vulnerable minors will continue to be separated from their relatives.”

A case in point:

A single mother was called to an interview with DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations in which she was accused of smuggling her daughters into the United States, despite the fact that her daughters are not in the United States. During the interview, the agents refused to provide adequate interpretation and attempted to separate the mother from her attorneys. At the conclusion of the interview, the woman was given an order to appear in immigration court, where she now faces deportation.

Jessica Jones, policy counsel at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said the program went against everything the nation stands for.

“Using kids as bait to target parents and other family members for immigration enforcement contravenes the most basic child welfare principles,” Jones said in the statement. “Children deserve protection, not exploitation.”

~ Global Sisters Report – Article by Dan Stockman

December 18 is International Migrants Day

December 14, 2017

“Migration has always been with us. Climate change, demographics, instability, growing inequalities, and aspirations for a better life, as well as unmet needs in labor markets, mean it is here to stay. The answer is effective international cooperation in managing migration to ensure that its benefits are most widely distributed, and that the human rights of all concerned are properly protected.”

~ UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

2017 Theme: Safe Migration in a World on the Move

Throughout human history, migration has been a courageous expression of the individual’s will to overcome adversity and to live a better life. Today, globalization, together with advances in communications and transportation, has greatly increased the number of people who have the desire and the capacity to move to other places.

This new era has created challenges and opportunities for societies throughout the world. It also has served to underscore the clear linkage between migration and development, as well as the opportunities it provides for co-development, that is, the concerted improvement of economic and social conditions at both origin and destination.

Migration draws increasing attention in the world nowadays. Mixed with elements of unforeseeability, emergency, and complexity, the challenges and difficulties of international migration require enhanced cooperation and collective action among countries and regions. The United Nations is actively playing a catalyst role in this area, with the aim of creating more dialogues and interactions within countries and regions, as well as propelling experience exchange and collaboration opportunities.

On September 19, 2016 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a set of commitments during its first ever summit on large movements of refugees and migrants to enhance the protection of refugees and migrants. These commitments are known as the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (NY Declaration). The NY Declaration reaffirms the importance of the international protection regime and represents a commitment by Member States to strengthen and enhance mechanisms to protect people on the move. It paves the way for the adoption of two new global compacts in 2018: the global compact on refugees and the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. ~ United Nations website

Share the Journey – Twenty Action Points

December 7, 2017

Over the next few weeks, as we continue to Share the Journeywith our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters, the Vatican office on Migrants and Refugees, consulting with various Bishops’ Conferences and Catholic NGOs, has prepared Twenty Action Pointson migrants and refugees. The Twenty Points are grounded on migrants’ and refugees’ needs identified at the grassroots level and on the Church’s best practices. The Points have been approved by the Holy Father. This week, we will introduce the first three of theTwenty Points.

Continuing to Share the Journey

Global migration is a major challenge for much of today’s world and a priority for the Catholic Church. In words and deeds, Pope Francis repeatedly shows his deep compassion for all who are displaced. Witness his encounters with migrants and refugees on the Islands of Lampedusa and Lesbos. Witness his call for their full embrace: to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate migrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking.

In addition, the Holy Father is guiding the Church to assist the world community in systematically improving its responses to the displaced. The international political community has launched a multilateral process of consultation and negotiations with the goal of adopting two Global Compacts by the end of 2018, one on international migrants and the other on refugees. In doing so, Twenty Action Points have been formulated. The various Bishops’ Conferences are urged to promote the Points in their parishes and Church organizations with the hope of fostering more effective solidarity with migrants and refugees.

Though grounded in the Church’s experience and reflection, the Twenty Points are offered as valuable considerations to all people of good will who might be willing to implement them and advocate their inclusion in their country’s negotiations. Leaders and members of all faiths, and organizations of civil society, are welcome to join in this effort.

Welcoming: Increasing Safe and Legal Routes for Migrants and Refugees

The decision to emigrate should be made freely and voluntarily. Migration should be an orderly process which respects the laws of each country involved. To this end, the following points are to be considered:

The collective or arbitrary expulsion of migrants and refugees should be avoided. The principles of non-refoulement should always be respected: migrants and refugees must never be returned to a country which has been deemed unsafe. The application of this principle should be based on the level of safety effectively afforded to each individual, rather than on a summary evaluation of a country’s general state of security. The routine application of a list of “safe countries” often fails to consider the real security needs of particular refugees; they must be treated on an individual basis.

Legal routes for safe and voluntary migration or relocation should be multiplied. This can be achieved by granting more humanitarian visas, visas for students and apprentices, family reunification visas (including siblings, grandparents and grandchildren), and temporary visas for people feeling conflict in neighboring countries; by creating humanitarian corridors for the most vulnerable; and by launching private and community sponsorship programs, programs for relocating refugees in communities rather than concentrating them in holding facilities

3. The value of each person’s safety – rooted in a profound respect the the inalienable rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees – should be correctly balanced with national security concerns. This can be achieved through appropriate training for border agents; by ensuring that migrants, asylum seekers and refugees have access to basic services, including legal services; by ensuring protection for anyone fleeing war and violence; and by seeking alternative solutions to detention for those who entere a coutnry without authorization.

Protecting: Defending the Rights and Dignity of Migrants and Refugees

The Church has repeatedly underlined the need for an integral approach to the issue of migration, in profound respect for each person’s dignity and rights and in consideration of the multiple dimensions of each individual. The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights, and cannot depend on a person’s legal status. To this end, the following points are suggested:

4. Emigrants must be protected by their countries of origin, authorities in these countries should offer reliable information before departure; should ensure that all channels of emigration are legalized and certified should create a government department for the diaspora; and should offer consular assistance and protection abroad.

1. 1. Immigrants must be protected by their countries of arrival, in order to prevent exploitation, forced labor and human trafficking. This can be achieved by prohibiting employers from withholding employees’ documents; by ensuring access to justice for all migrants, independently of their legal status and without negative repercussions on their right to remain; by ensuring that all immigrants can open a person bank account; by establishing a minimum wage applicable to all workers; and by ensuring that wages are paid at least once a month.
  1. Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees must be empowered to leverage their skills and competencies in order to improve their own wellbeing and the prosperity of their communities. This can be achieved by guaranteeing in-country freedom of movement and permission to return after work abroad; by providing ample access to the means of communications; by involving local communities in the integration of asylum seekers; and by developing programs of professional and social reintegration for anyone who chooses to return to their home country.
  7. The vulnerability of unaccompanied minor and minors separated from their families must be tackled in accordance with the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. This can be achieved by seeking alternative solutions to detention for legally underage migrants who enter a country without authorization; by offering temporary custody or foster homes for unaccompanied or separated minor; and by setting up centers for the identification and processing of minors, adults and families.
1. All underage migrants must be protected in accordance with the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. This can be achieved through the compulsory registration of all births and by ensuring that underage migrants do not become irregular when they reach adulthood and that they can continue their education.
1. Access to education should be assured to all underage migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, so that they have access to primary and secondary schooling at the same standard as citizens and independently of their legal status.
1. Access to welfare should be assured to all migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, respoting their right to health and basic healthcare independently of legal status, and ensuring access to national pension schemes and the transferability of benefits in case of moving to another country,
1. Migrants should never become a-national or stateless, in accordance to the right to nationality stated by international conventions, and citizen ship should be recognized at birth.
Protecting: Defending the Rights and Dignity of Migrants and RefugeesThe Church has repeatedly emphasized the need to promote integral human development for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees alongside local residents. Countries should include migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in their plan for national development. To this end, the following points are to be considered:
1. The competencies of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees should be valued and developed in countries of arrival by guaranteeing equal access to higher education, specialization courses, apprenticeships and internships, and by validating qualifications obtained elsewhere.
1. the social and professional inclusion of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees within local communities should be supported by recognizing their freedom of movement and their right to choose where to live; by making information available in their languages of origin; by offering language classes and course on local customs and culture; and by granting asylum seekers and refugees the right to work.
1. The integrity and well-being of the family should always be protected and promoted, independently of legal status. This can be achieved by embracing broader family reunification (grandparents, grandchildren and siblings) independently of financial requirements; by allowing reunified family members to work; by undertaking the search for lost family members; by combating the exploitation of minors; and by ensuring, that, if employed, their work does not adversely affect their health or their right to education.
1. 15. Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees with special needs are to be treated just like citizens with the same conditions, guaranteeing access to disability benefits independently of legal status, and enrolling unaccompanied or separated minors with disabilities in special education programs.
1. The funds for international development and humanitarian support, sent to countries which received a significant influx of refugees and migrants fleeing from armed conflict, should be increased, ensure that the needs of both newcomer and resident populations can be met. This can be achieved by funding the establishment and development of institutions for medical, educational and social care in countries of arrival, and by extending financial help and assistance programs to local families in situations of vulnerability.
2. The right to religious freedom – terms of both belief and practice – should be assured to all migrants, asylum seekers and refugees independently of legal status.
Integrating: Greater Participation of Migrants and Refugees to Enrich Local Community

The arrival of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees represents an opportunity for growth as much for local communities as for the newcomers. The encounter of different cultures is a source of mutual enrichment, since inclusion and participation contribute to the development of societies. To this end the following points are to be implemented:

18. Integration as a two-directional process which acknowledges and values the riches of both cultures, should be promoted. This can be achieved by recognizing the citizenship at birth; by rapidly extending nationality to all refugees, independently of financial requirements or linguistic knowledge (at least for over -50s); by promoting family reunification; and by declaring a one-off period of amnesty and legalization for migrants who have lived in a country for a considerable amount of time.

19. A positive narrative os solidarity towards migrants, asylum seekers and refugees should be promoted. This can be achieved by funding intercultural exchange projects; by supporting integration programs in local communities; by documenting and disseminating good practices in integration; and by ensuring that public announcements are translated into the languages spoken by larger numbers of igtants, asylum seekers and refugees.

20. Those who are forced to flee humanitarian crises and are subsequently evacuated or enrolled in assisted repatriation programs must be ensured appropriate conditions for reintegration in their countries of origin. This can be achieved by increasing the funds assigned to temporary assistance for those affected by humanitarian crises and by developing infrastructure in countries of return, by validating educational and professional qualifications obtained abroad, and by encouraging the rapid reintegration of workers in their countries of origin.

~ Migrants and Refugees Section, Integral Human Development, Vatican City

Greetings on the Feast Day from the General Superior

November 15, 2017

CURIA GENERALIZIA – MISSIONARIE DEL SACRO CUORE DI GESÙ 00135 ROMA

Feast of Mother Cabrini

Dear Sisters, Cabrini Lay Missionaries and Partners in Mission,

Rome, November 13, 2017

Happy Feast Day to all of you. This Centenary year celebrating Mother Cabrini’s passage from this life to the next has been one of tremendous grace. Let’s unite in thanksgiving for all of the wonderful consolations that the Sacred Heart of Jesus has given to us throughout this year.

May we be worthy of all that God has given to us and have the courage to collaborate with His desire for us, that we truly be Bearers of the Love of God to the World today. Now is the favorable time; we must continue to move towards the future with love, humility and missionary audacity.

It is with great joy that we also announce the founding on this date of the new Santa Francisca Cabrini Province that is comprised of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The discernment for the major superior will take place November 25-27. I ask that we all join in praying for this new province, and offer my gratitude for the work that the sisters have done to bring about this new canonical entity. I am sure that our Mother Foundress, for whom the Province is named, will bestow on this province special help at this time of building something new for the good of the Institute and for the good of mission.

In this time of unprecedented human migration and displacement we must continue to look for ways of deepening our response to those who are without home or country. This is our charism. Let us work together with courage and energy to respond to the beginning of two new missionary endeavors; A house for refugees in Rome, and new mission in Uganda on the Sudanese border. It will take all of us together to make these missionary dreams become a reality.

The General Council and myself want to thank all of you for all that you do every day. Be assured of our pray, support and love as we together move towards the future in this favorable time in our MSC Institute.

United with you in the Heart of Christ,

Sr. Barbara Staley, MSC

General Superior