Cabrini Mission Corps missioner Rebecca Wyss visited the New York Statehouse in Albany with other members of the Food Bank for New York City to advocate for more funding for emergency food. Since 2007, funding for food banks in the state has remained the same, even though the need has grown every year. Rebecca and people who work at other food pantries spoke with elected officials about how they have to try to feed more people every month with the same amount of funding from the state. We pray that the representatives heard their request and will offer more support to food pantries like ours!
Justice for Immigrants Rallies against deportation
On Tuesday, February 23, members of the Justice for Immigrants campaign at Cabrini Immigrant Services participated in an action asking President Obama to stop the raids of Central American refugees. Right after Christmas, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began a spree of arresting and deporting refugees from Central America who came to the United States fleeing violence. Of all the people who have been deported since 2014, we know at least 83 have been killed in their home countries.
The February action asked President Obama and the Department of Homeland Security to treat these people like the refugees they are. At the action, several people, including our member Dennisse, spoke about the challenges facing undocumented immigrants and their fear about being sent back to violence. After they spoke, we participated in a “die-in”, despite the rain, to recognize and mourn the 83 people who have been killed.
You can read about the action here: http://nydn.us/1OyqZYR
A Voice for Immigrant Rights
Last Friday, a member of our Justice for Immigrants campaign spoke at her first press conference! Monica is undocumented, but she has two children who are US citizens. On Friday, she spoke during a press conference hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition. Her daughter Liliana kept her company while she spoke.
Monica was very nervous, but we’re so proud of her for speaking in front of the crowd and on the news! She urged the Supreme Court to hear the case about Obama’s 2014 executive actions of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). These actions were announced in November 2014 and would allow parents and more young adults to gain lawful status in the country, but the actions have been tied up in the courts for months. We’re very excited that after months of activism, the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that they will hear the case for DACA and DAPA! This announcement gives hope to our community members who have been living in fear that they will be separated from their families. We expect that the Supreme Court will give its ruling in the early summer. Please keep this case and all of our clients’ families in your prayers! ~ submitted by CMC missioner Madison Koenig
You can read about the press conference (in Spanish) here: http://bit.ly/1P4PiEK
Or in English here: http://bit.ly/1ODEJ5T
And watch a clip from the news (in Spanish) here: http://bit.ly/1WfgUXk
Cabrini Immigrant Services, NYC Hosts Coat Drive
On Friday, November 6, Cabrini Immigrant Services of NYC hosted its annual winter coat drive. We served 132 families and distributed between 350 and 400 coats and jackets. Thank you to everyone who donated and volunteered for making this event possible!
We’re getting ready for the holiday season here as well. Last Tuesday we began to distribute vouchers to local grocery stores to our
clients so they can buy special food for Thanksgiving. We’re also starting to buy Christmas gifts for our families, which Santa will distribute on December 18 at our annual Christmas celebration on December 18.
But we need your help to make it happen! Any amount you can donate will help us guarantee that our community can celebrate this holiday season without worrying about whether they can afford a Thanksgiving meal or a Christmas gift.
Please donate at www.cis-nyc.org/donate or mail a donation to Cabrini Immigrant Services, 139 Henry Street, New York, NY 10002.
We are here to create something NEW
“We are here to create something NEW”
…These are the words of MSC General Superior Sr. Barbara Staley, spoken as she offered her opening remarks at the 2015 Provincial Assembly currently in session in Florham Park, New Jersey.
Missionary Sisters and lay leaders from the Stella Maris Province were united in an Assembly for the first time with the Missionary Sisters from Mexico and Central America. In the near future, the MSCs from Mexico and Central America will join the MSCs of the Stella Maris Province in forming a new entity.
Sr. Barbara reflected, “we are living the dreams and visions of our sisters of the past. We are building the future, which we look to with hope. Sisters and brothers, we are living in the rivers of grace and mercy; a grace that comes to us through charism.”
Fittingly, as the Stella Maris Province unites with the region of Central America, the theme of the Provincial Assembly is “interculture-ality”. To explore the implications of this new entity – this new union – Dr. Arturo Chavez, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, Texas, led the Assembly in interactive exercises designed to consider the many dimensions of culture.
Taken from the work of Edward T. Hall and Eric H.F. Law, “culture is the particular way in which a human group interprets life and relates with nature, God, the world and other peoples. Culture is lived and expressed through traditions, relationships, food, music, religion, beliefs, thought patterns, myths and how we act. It is not only how we are, it is who we are. It is our history, our ethnicity, how we think about our families, who we include in our families, how we speak and when we speak, how we think about God and how we relate to God. It is how we relate to each other and how we relate to the stranger.”
Dr. Chavez asked the Assembly to consider the “Iceberg Analogy of Culture” created by Hall and Law. In doing so, sisters and laity contemplated the internal and external aspects of culture. The Assembly was invited to share in conversation about individual family heritage and traditions – how these serve to form an individual and his or her perceptions of others and of the world.
The first step in building an intercultural community, posited Dr. Chavez, is to get to know our own hearts. Being aware of our own heart, we come to a better understanding of our own power and how cultures have formed us.
One session of the Assembly focused on the way in which Cabrinian ministries are addressing the pressing issues of immigration, migration, refugees, asylum seekers and human trafficking. It is through these responses that we see how the Cabrinian charism is living and active in the world today.
Woven into the Assembly program were times for prayer and reflection each highlighting a different country present at the Assembly. Liturgies at the Assembly were offered in Spanish and English in honor of the new reality. In a further spirit of celebration, during Monday’s liturgy, Vicky Lucio renewed her commitment as a Cabrini Lay Missionary (CLM).
Nothing transcends culture like music and dancing. Therefore, no Assembly is complete without its own fiesta! With smiles and laughter, Missionary Sisters and laity shared the floor dancing to the beat of Latin, Swazi and American songs…united as one. For more photos visit: www.mothercabrini.org
Sharing the Good News of Cabrini Immigrant Services
Earlier this summer, I had the honor of being a guest on Paul Feiner’s radio show on WVOX, New Rochelle, NY. The show, “The Greenburgh Report with Town Supervisor Paul Feiner,” is a weekly broadcast which tries to inform listeners about various programs usually within the Rivertowns. Mr. Feiner has served as Town Supervisor since 1991. He had visited Cabrini Immigrant Services (CIS) to hear about the services that we offer to the immigrant population and at that time invited me to be a guest on his radio show.
Mr. Feiner was interested in the wonderful works that are being done at Cabrini of Westchester (COW) as well as CIS. He thought it would be great to spread the word about Cabrini. During the radio interview, I spoke about the nursing home as well as the different services that are offered through COW. I also spoke about Mother Cabrini and what a great example she is for immigrants. Mr. Feiner was very surprised to hear that Mother Cabrini not only lived in Dobbs Ferry but that she purchased the property that the nursing home is on. As he said, “Not many towns can boast of having a Saint who lived there!”
I was able to share about the programs being offered at CIS. Mr. Feiner, who is a strong advocate for Immigrants, was very pleased to hear about the programs offered for children as well as adults. He marveled at the fact that all of our services are free of charge. He truly saw how the mission of St. Cabrini is still alive and well today at CIS! Several times throughout the show, he said, “I know that St. Cabrini is looking down from Heaven and smiling at all of you as you continue her great works!”
It was both a pleasure and privilege to be asked to be on the show. It was an honor to be able to speak about Mother Cabrini and all the wonderful work that she began and that continues to be done in her name. ~ Lorraine Campanelli
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