McALLEN, Texas — Father Brendan Rowley, who was ordained this year and who serves at Sts. John and Paul Church in Coventry, recently joined priests from other dioceses on a Catholic Extension mission trip to the Diocese of Brownsville to learn about the Church’s ministries to migrants at the US-Mexico border.
At La Posada Providencia, a long-term shelter founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence in San Benito, Texas, the group met residents from countries in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean. One woman from Zimbabwe described fleeing terrible violence that claimed the lives of many of her friends and family. “Shalom,” as she is called, was denied entry into Ireland but eventually allowed to apply for asylum in the United States. She described how grateful she was to La Posada, the only place that answered her frantic requests for shelter while she awaits an asylum hearing.
Father Rowley also met Sister Norma Pimentel, MJ, whose Humanitarian Respite Center has provided tens of thousands of people temporary relief after being released from detention. During the visit to the Center, host Michelle Nuñez described how its numbers are down because of recent policy changes that deter asylum-seekers from entering the United States. In response, the Center has begun bringing supplies to the families who live in tents across the border in Matamoros, lined up waiting for permission to enter the United States.
“God is at work in the shelters that are taking care of these immigrants,” Father Rowley said. “God is working through the compassionate and loving hearts of the sisters and the laity who provide shelter, food, hygiene products, and education to the immigrants who come to them.
The group also crossed the border to visit a clinic and a migrant shelter in nearby Reynosa, Mexico. The clinic, supported by a Catholic parish, has served over 10,000 poor people, many of them migrants. The shelter is operated by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and has seen tens of thousands of people pass through its doors, either hoping to enter the United States or having been recently deported.
Father Rowley met a 35-year-old man who had lived in the United States since he was 8, but who had recently been arrested after a minor traffic violation and deported. The man was weeping as he described his wife and two children still living in the US.
“During the course of this trip we encountered many people,” Father Rowley said. “But the most powerful encounters were with the immigrants themselves who shared their powerful stories. I was particularly moved by one man and 16 year old son who had escaped being kidnapped just 12 hours earlier. Stories like this brought to life the reality of the dangers immigrants are facing as they seek a better life in this country.”
The group celebrated Mass at the historic La Lomita chapel with Father Roy Snipes, OMI, a finalist for Catholic Extension’s annual Lumen Christi Award. Father Roy and the Diocese of Brownsville are currently in the midst of a dispute over land adjacent to La Lomita, which the current administration has identified as a site where a new border wall would be built. Father Roy and the diocese have described the suit as a religious freedom issue, since the Church had a missionary presence there for some two centuries.
“I found that a lot of good work is being done at the border,” Father Rowley said.
“While not everyone is or can be immediately welcomed into the country when they arrive at the border, there are many shelters and clinics available to take care of these people and meet their needs while they wait. Those running these shelters and clinics have a cooperative and cordial relationship with border patrol and ICE agents.”
The group’s final visit was to a ministry of the ICM Sisters in Peñitas, Texas, called Proyecto Desarollo Humano. The Sisters, 2014 recipients of the Lumen Christi Award, established the Proyecto initially to minister to the women of the colonia, the rudimentary village that had sprung up in the region.
“This trip highlighted the good work that is being done on behalf of the Catholic Church at the border,” Father Rowley said. “It was reassuring and refreshing to witness the outreach and ministry of many Catholic Sisters and laity via shelters and clinics.”
Founded in 1905, Catholic Extension is a papal society dedicated to financial support of mission dioceses throughout the United States and its territories. The trip was part of Catholic Extension’s mission immersion program for pastors, funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., to offer priests opportunities to deepen their understanding of the Church in the United States.
Father Rowley said that it is important for the Church to be present in poor areas and have the positive impact that it does.
“It is important for the Church to be present in these poor areas and to minister to these immigrants to be a source of strength and hope for them as they endure these very difficult conditions,” he said.
“For an immigrant to encounter the Catholic Church at the border is a reminder to them that the Lord, like with the Israelites, sees their plight and knows their pain, and is reaching out to take of them in their time of need.
