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January 30, 2023, Silver Spring, Maryland – Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). She will be presented the award on August 11, 2023, during the closing banquet of LCWR’s Assembly in Dallas. Her selection was approved unanimously by the LCWR board.
Recipients are chosen based on their “commitment and collaboration in the ministry of leadership; faithfulness to gospel values and mission; creative and innovative leadership in one or more areas; and significant contribution on the national and/or international level, particularly to women religious congregations in the United States.”
“I’m deeply honored,” Sister Donna said in response to the news.
In a letter announcing Sister Donna’s selection, Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ, Executive Director of LCWR, wrote: “Having served as a clinical psychologist, educator, and executive leader, Donna has been recognized internationally for how she models collaboration, creativity, and innovation in leadership areas that include healthcare, social service, and religious life. LCWR looks forward to learning more about Donna’s approach to effective leadership when it honors her.”
Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, said, “Donna’s outstanding gift of leadership could not be more aptly recognized. It will be a joy and an honor for all of us on the [Adrian Dominican] Leadership Council to represent our community at the LCWR Assembly this August when the Conference’s highest award will be bestowed on our outstanding Dominican Sister.”
Since June 2015, Sister Donna has served as President and CEO of CCUSA – a network of Catholic agencies throughout the United States that serve people in need in such areas as hunger, affordable housing, immigration and refugee services, integrated health, advocacy and social policy initiatives, and domestic disaster relief. Before being named President, she served on the CCUSA Board of Directors for eight years, including two years as Board Chairperson. She will retire this summer.
A graduate of Regina Dominican High School, Wilmette, Illinois – founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters – Sister Donna served the Congregation on the General Council from 1986 to 1992 and as Prioress from 2004 to 2010. Her accomplishments as Prioress included establishing seven new mission initiatives in the United States, Canada, and Africa and inviting young Dominican Sisters from Iraq to the United States, sponsoring them for education. In addition, she served as President of LCWR from 1990 to 1993.
A licensed clinical psychologist, Sister Donna was a psychologist and Director of Dominican Consultation Center in Detroit, 1980-1986; clinical psychologist at Romero House in Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1992-1993; President of Southdown Institute, Aurora, Ontario, a residential treatment program for priests and religious, 1993-2003. She was served as President of the Behavioral Health Institute at Mercy Health System.
The LCWR is an association of the elected leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States.
January 18, 2023, El Paso, Texas – From late November to mid-December – during the time that many people consider to be the “holiday season” – three Adrian Dominican Sisters were among other Catholic Sisters and lay volunteers who served in ministry to asylum seekers crossing into the U.S. at the Texas-Mexico border.
The Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Catherine of Siena Mission Chapter, encompassing Sisters and Associates predominantly outside of Adrian, Michigan, invited Sisters to serve for at least a week at the border. Three Sisters served at St. Ignatius Parish in El Paso, Texas, which had set up its parish hall and school – now closed – as a clearing house for immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. The immigrants are bused to the center by Border Patrol personnel.
Sister Mary Soher, OP, explained that St. Ignatius began receiving refugees about eight months ago, originally only on Mondays – until the number of refugees coming to El Paso increased in June and July. “They went from once a week to three times a week,” she said. The parish’s philosophy is to turn no one away.
Typically, the parish accepts immigrants coming from detention on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays; offers them clothing, food, and whatever else they might need; helps them to make travel arrangements – usually by plane or bus – to the home of their sponsors; and provides transportation to the airport or bus station.
“The object of St. Ignatius and the immigrants they [welcome] is to turn them over as quickly as possible and get them to their destination” where they can stay until their court date for seeking asylum, explained Sister Janet Stankowski, OP. While the court date is originally set in El Paso, where they were received, most asylum seekers can arrange to go to a court that’s near where they will be staying.
Sister Janet served at St. Ignatius during Thanksgiving week – a unique experience because of the holiday. “We had a huge load of people – 180 on Monday and 150 on Tuesday – and by Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, maybe there were 25 to 30 who weren’t able to move on,” she said. Many stayed for two or three days waiting for transportation.
Sister Janet recalled giving the remaining immigrants a special experience of U.S. Thanksgiving: Mass in Spanish and then a walk to nearby Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso, which offered Thanksgiving meals to about 750 people who are homeless and immigrants. She spent Friday working with an immigrant family to wash 10 loads of sheets and towels and transporting people to the airport or bus stations.
Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP, served at St. Ignatius December 4-10, 2022, finding it to be a “really positive experience.” She was particularly surprised by the many places that the immigrants came from: Central America, South America, Turkey, and Russia.
“The center itself is like a day center and a couple of buses come in, and it’s a matter of feeding the people and connecting them to wherever it is that they’re going,” Sister Nancy explained. “The dignity that they give people is heart-warming. It’s a welcome center in the truest sense of the word.”
She spent the mornings of the immigrants’ arrival in food preparation, offering them a hot meal, and afternoons transporting them to the airport or bus station. On days when the immigrants don’t arrive, she said, volunteers sorted donations of clothing.
Sister Nancy noted the fast pace of volunteer work at St. Ignatius. “You don’t get to know a lot of people on a really personal level because it’s so fast, but there are opportunities.” Volunteers who know Spanish have multiple opportunities to get to know the people, however. “They can listen to the stories and understand them.”
Sister Mary, who served December 11-20, 2022, was especially surprised at the state of the immigrants who arrived at St. Ignatius. They would get off the bus wearing shoes with no shoelaces, sweatpants, and T-shirts. “That was every person, regardless of their age,” she explained. “You knew automatically that they were refugees if that’s all the clothing they had.”
St. Ignatius offered them clothing – including heavier shirts and jackets to people going to colder states and sweaters for those staying in warmer climates, Sister Mary explained. Immigrants who had money were encouraged to go to one of the hotels working with St. Ignatius, where they could take a shower.
Sister Mary noted a particular challenge for immigrants seeking transportation during the Christmas season: the cost. “The price of tickets kept going up, up, up,” she said. “Somebody wanted a plane to New Jersey. One ticket was $500.” She added that planes and buses were both full during the Christmas season. But, she added, the immigrants “made it this far and the amazing thing was people’s ability to get where they were going.”
All three Sisters were impressed and inspired by the parishioners of St. Ignatius and the other volunteers – and moved by the plight of the immigrants and their strength, courage, and resiliency.
“What I learned is that people came with nothing,” Sister Janet said. “They got off those buses with a little Ziploc bag with their passport, money, and paperwork – that’s it.” Still, she said, they did bring their families and their faith, as well as a “determination that they could survive and maybe even thrive.”
Sister Mary saw predominantly young immigrants – often young families with small children. She was amazed at the ability of the parents to come to the United States with their young children and navigate the system. “I didn’t ask a lot of questions,” she said. “You just want to make them feel welcome and safe for whatever they want to go to next.”
Sister Janet added: “I admired tremendously the priest at St. Ignatius, who lived the Gospel, lived the words of Pope Francis. He exemplified what Pope Francis said about welcoming the immigrants. He was welcoming the stranger and trying to integrate them into new life. He set the pace, but the volunteers who worked tirelessly, they put me to shame.”
St. Ignatius is located in the poorest diocese of the whole state of Texas, Sister Nancy said, adding that parishioners have taken on the projects themselves. “It costs about $5,000 a month to feed the people.” But, she added, the program is also supported by Bishop Mark J. Seitz. “He said we need to open people’s eyes to the fact that this is not a criminal activity,” she said. “This is very legal and it’s the kind thing to do – it’s really Gospel driven.”
Sister Nancy encouraged others who have the opportunity to get involved in this ministry. But, she added, “there’s no way to prepare for it. It’s just a matter of an open mind and an open heart. It’s clearly a broadening experience. You’re not the same [afterwards].”
Feature photo: Immigrants leave a Border Patrol bus and line up for services at St. Ignatius Church in El Paso, Texas.