What's Happening

September 23, 2022, Viera, Florida – In a guest Op-Ed column for Florida Today, Adrian Dominican Sister Lucy Vazquez, OP, spoke out against the practice of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of “importing” refugees from Texas to Florida and then sending them to Martha’s Vineyard to make a political statement about immigration. 

Sister Lucy Vazquez, OP

Sister Lucy wrote that this latest political practice “is a complete contradiction” of the Jesus’ statement in the Gospel that we will be judged on how we treat those in need – including immigrants and refugees – for “as long as you did it to one of these, the least of my little ones, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:40). While immigration reform is needed, she wrote, “we need to afford those who seek refuge in our country the dignity of human beings.”

Writing as a refugee from Cuba, Sister Lucy noted the hard work of her father and of other refugees who sought work to support their families. “Florida would not be as prosperous as it is today without the untold contributions of refugees from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other countries,” she wrote. 

Read Sister Lucy’s guest column in Florida Today, “Political theater at the expense of refugees is unforgivable cruelty.”

February 17, 2022, Washington, D.C. – Sisters Donna Markham, OP, and Norma Pimentel, MJ, are defending the humanitarian and Gospel ministries to immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border by Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) against Catholic detractors who accuse them of luring immigrants across the southern border and even engaging in human trafficking. 

CCUSA and its agencies – including the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas – have received hateful, furious phone calls and unfair coverage on Fox News and other media outlets. 

“Our work is humanitarian,” said Sister Donna, President and CEO of CCUSA, told America Magazine. “It is grounded in our faith.” She noted that Catholic Charities has been doing this work – mandated by the Gospel – since 1910. “This is really our identity, and we don’t have any intention of stopping this ministry.”

As Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grand Valley, based in Brownsville, Texas, Sister Norma defended her agency’s work at the respite center in McAllen, Texas. The respite center serves people who have left their homeland because of “dire circumstances” and who have been allowed to enter the United States by the federal government, she told America. “We simply offer humanitarian assistance in their time of crisis.”

Read the entire article, written by Kevin Clarke. In addition, read a statement by the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, standing by the work of CCUSA.