Sister Phyllis Tierney Joins Volunteer Efforts on the Border

Sister Phyllis Tierney is spending time assisting asylum seekers on the border in El Paso, Texas through the end of January.  Sister Phyllis is volunteering through the AnnunciationHouse program.  

Here are some reflections from her days assisting at the Mesa Inn Shelter 

Day 2

This is my second day. I arrived yesterday afternoon with two women from Rhode Island. They are assigned to a different site so we may not see each other again. 

 Mesa Inn is one of the sites where Annunciation House rents rooms for refugees.  The shelter has been averaging 50 plus people per day.

Anne Meyer-Wilbur is here (SSJ Associate) and is working at Mesa Inn so we are together. She is amazing and keeps going! Last night I helped in the clothing room

Anne's handiwork...i help with the sorting!

Today I was supposed to start at 2 pm but a large group arrived at noon time unexpectedly so we have been working all day. We’ve had difficulty because it takes time to wait until rooms are clean. One family moved 3 times because the shower was broken and there was a flood later. The cold water has been off in the building that I am in and maintenance has been working at it all day.
Volunteers bring in meals. Tonight it was a family that cooks and brings dinner to the shelters on a regular basis. There were about 70 people tonight with guests and volunteers.

Sister Phyllis Tierney and Father Peter discussing room reservations

Volunteers helping to sort and organize food donations

Day 3

We had another group of 40 people today but we were called ahead of time so we could prepare. They came from Guatemala and Honduras and had been in detention for several days prior to arriving. We hear that in some places people have been given little to eat. At supper we sat with a woman and her daughter from Guatemala. Her husband is in Florida. He had paid a coyote to bring her.

Day 4 and 5

Yesterday Anne and I went out for breakfast because we weren’t on until later in the day. We came back to the hotel and Anne went to the laundromat. I was looking for a free hour in my room but I told another volunteer to call if our expected group arrived before lunch. Ten minutes later a group of 60 plus arrived!  Last night we were told that 100 would arrive today. We received 50 but waited most of the afternoon for them to arrive. The day was sunny and the children played outside. We had sidewalk chalk so we had some fun with the kids! Tonight a dad and his small daughter were going to North Carolina. He had spent his time weaving a bracelet out of yarn. He gave it to me before he left. It is the small and unexpected gestures that mean so much!

Some guests wash out their clothes because there are no facilities and dry them on the bushes and by the pool!

Week 2

For several days we have had an average of fifty people a day and our schedules have been pretty similar to the first week.

I took my day off on Thursday and had the opportunity to visit the University of Texas Campus at El Paso. The architecture of all the buildings is Bhutanese and the buildings are very graceful. The campus grounds are lovely with contemplative spaces. Sara, another volunteer and I visited the Centennial Museum on the campus.in the afternoon Sister Isobel, a Daughter of Charity, took Marjorie (another volunteer) and me to Juarez so we could see the city and visit one of the families she helps. 

On  Friday, we had 70 people so we kept hopping!

The Immigrants' Creed

(This creed professes the Christian faith through the experience of an immigrant.)

I believe in Almighty God,
who guided the people in exile and in exodus,
the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon,
the God of foreigners and immigrants.

I believe in Jesus Christ,
a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home,
who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger,
and returning to his own country suffered the oppression
of the tyrant Pontius Pilate, the servant of a foreign power,
who then was persecuted, beaten, and finally tortured,
accused and condemned to death unjustly.
But on the third day, this scorned Jesus rose from the dead,
not as a foreigner but to offer us citizenship in heaven.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the eternal immigrant from God’s kingdom among us,
who speaks all languages, lives in all countries,
and reunites all races.

I believe that the church is the secure home
for the foreigner and for all believers who constitute it,
who speak the same language and have the same purpose.

I believe that the communion of the saints begins
when we accept the diversity of the saints.

I believe in the forgiveness of sin, which makes us all equal,
and in reconciliation, which identifies us more
than does race, language, or nationality.

I believe that in the resurrection
God will unite us as one people
in which all are distinct
and all are alike at the same time.

Beyond this world, I believe in life eternal
in which no one will be an immigrant
and all will be citizens of God’s kingdom,
which will never end. Amen.

"The Immigrants’ Creed" is excerpted from The Book of Common Worship: 2018 Edition.
 

Now that I am home, the very word home seems almost strange to say and then to add the word "my" seems even stranger. My home, my community, my room, even my bed is so ordinary and yet such a gift. Then I must go on to ask… Why can I say “my” where millions around our globe can only dream of such things?

The refugees at our southern border in El Paso taught me over and over to say, “Gracias a Dios! Thanks be to God!” This is a phrase that was a part of every conversation, no matter how difficult their experience, Gracias a Dios!

As a first world U.S. citizen this is a phrase I generally would hear by those who live on the borders of our society, whether it be an inmate at Monroe County jail, or a homeless woman at Bethany House, “Thanks be to God!”

As a Catholic Sister I have much to learn from my sisters and brothers on the borders of life who place themselves in the very center of the heart of God, so freely, so naturally and so often. 

Gracias a Dios, for my congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph, who sent me to El Paso with their love and support.

Gracias a Dios, for the community of Sisters of Charity who so warmly welcomed me into their home . 

Gracias a Dios, for Annunciation House and the countless folks who are so generously giving to our refugee sisters and brothers to offer them a warm welcome and support for the next step on their journey.

Gracias a Dios, for all the refugees who welcomed me into their lives.

Gracias a Dios, for Phyllis Tierney SSJ of Rochester, who left for El Paso today.

Gracias a Dios, for all the love and support God gives every moment of every day!