Peter Tran

Along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, humanitarian groups have been giving food, water, blankets, and warm clothes to asylum-seekers. I accompanied Sr. Judy Bourg and some volunteers on a recent trip in January.

¿Qué lleva a una hermana feliciana a dejar su vida en California para rescatar a migrantes perdidos en el desierto de Sonora, en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México? ¿Cómo se involucró con las Águilas del Desierto, una organización que en 2021 salvó a más de 183 personas? ¿De qué tipo ha sido su experiencia con los Samaritanos de Ajo? La Hna. María Louise Edwards revela en esta entrevista algunos detalles de su trabajo humanitario y su visión sobre la migración ilegal. “Las hermanas están llamadas a ir, como un socorrista, allí donde está el sufrimiento, donde los corazones lloran”, instó la religiosa. 

Her name is Ireny Perez Escalante. She was found dead in Sierra Vista, Arizona, on Sept. 28, 2020. She was 23 years old. More than two years later, she was remembered by name on All Souls' Day at a local parish.

Vocation directors of various women's religious congregations say personal contact with young people is important in vocation work. Four religious sisters spoke to GSR about their congregations' vocation ministries.

Aguilas del Desierto searches for migrants who are lost, injured or deceased in the desert. They also work to save lives through a campaign that educates migrants about dangers involved with crossing the southern border.

Marian Days started in 1978 to evangelize Vietnamese living in the Carthage, Missouri, area. Before the pandemic, it drew about 70,000 people to events that reconnect Vietnamese to their faith and culture.

A photographer and a writer join the Ajo and Tucson Samaritans to highlight the harshness of the experience of migrants who cross the U.S. border into the sprawling Sonoran Desert — where it's mostly about the water.

Felician Sr. Maria Louise Edwards, vice president of the Aguilas del Desierto, spoke to GSR in Arizona, where she was networking with church and civic groups working in border ministry.

Judy Bourg, a School Sister of Notre Dame, talks to GSR about her daily work at migrant resource center in Agua Prieta, Mexico, as well as recalls migrants' stories that motivated her to be a "link of hope."

In U.S. border communities, staff and volunteers at the Migrant Resource Center and similar organizations help migrants expelled from the country rest and get advice while they figure out their next step.

A rise in hate crimes against Asians in the U.S. is sparking concern for women religious from Asian and Pacific Island countries. Some have experienced verbal abuse, while others have witnessed fear in communities they serve.

Sr. Michelle Woodruff works as a public health nurse at the Crownpoint Health Care Facility, about two hours northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which serves more than 20,000 people in rural New Mexico.

For years, Catholic sisters have ministered to parishioners and other members of the Navajo Nation. During the pandemic, sisters are finding creative ways to continue their social and pastoral care.

Sister Agnes-Claire said St. Mary Euphrasia's mission continues today in Singapore with the Good Shepherd Sisters, who founded the Good Shepherd Centre in Sembawang in 1986. Throughout the years, the center has sheltered women and children fleeing from family violence, migrant domestic workers abused by their employers, and women who were trafficked for the sex trade in Singapore.

Under COVID-19 lockdown, Srs. Sokny Nheb and Hill Pen say they miss their normal ministries — like teaching catechism, holding singing practice, visiting and teaching basic life skills to village children in Stung Treng.