Franciscans attending the 2019 Chapter meeting in Corpus Christi fill drawstring backpacks with toiletry items for immigrants in Texas.

By Sharon Winzeler

Up to 18 boxes at a time were delivered for days to the home of Patsy Cueva Philipps, OFS, in Corpus Christi.

The spending spree on Amazon was fueled by a response to a call to help refugees being released from detention centers in Laredo, McAllen and San Antonio, TX.

Philipps, regional minister of the Los Tres Companeros Region of Secular Franciscans, had spent more than a year dreaming of a way to help people who were crossing the border to seek asylum. She was inspired to organize a Secular Franciscan service project to aid 1,000 men and women with drawstring backpacks filled with hygiene items and other supplies. Those packs were put together by some 80 Secular Franciscan leaders attending their annual chapter, held Oct. 15-20 at Pax Christi Liturgical Retreat Center in Corpus Christi.

It all started last year when Philipps discovered that on her way to work she was passing a detention center in Corpus Christi that housed 120 teenagers. When Philipps called to find out if the Secular Franciscans could help the residents with anything, she was told the government takes care of food and daily living items. What they could use, she was told, was art supplies, books and games.

Los Tres Companeros Region Minister Patsy Cueva Philipps, OFS, (right), led the call to serve the immigrants released from detention centers in Laredo, McAllen and San Antonio, TX.

Working with a wish list that included crayons, coloring books, and prayer cards, the local Secular Franciscan fraternity worked in cooperation with the diocese. They also hosted a Christmas party.

Bishop Michael Mulvey celebrated a Mass at the detention center and directed his homily toward the teenagers.

“He talked about the hard journey they had taken,” Phillips said. “He told them they brought a special gift to us in the same way Jesus and his parents did when they had to leave their country. He told them that they had to deal with more in their short lives than others face in their lifetime.”

After a presentation by an immigration attorney in July that highlighted the severity and urgency of the need to help the immigrants, she felt the call to action.  In July, she consulted regional Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)  coordinator Valerie Laubacher. Both Franciscans knew it was the right time to launch the project.

“I knew that the Holy Spirit planted this idea in Patsy’s heart,” Laubacher said. “The Holy Spirit was blessing this.”

Together they brainstormed with members of their region on items that would be helpful for the released immigrants who were legally crossing the border, awaiting a court hearing and traveling to their U.S. destination. Laubacher consulted with her niece on how to start an “Amazon Wish List.”  The women were texting each other at 11 p.m. with ideas.

They ordered such items as socks, water bottles, hair brushes, combs, lotion, tissues, toothbrushes, notebooks, pencils, notebooks and wipes.

Another vendor was required to purchase shoelaces because they were not available for bulk purchase from Amazon. Shoelaces are important to immigrants departing from detention centers because they are required to remove them as a safety precaution when they enter, and the items are never returned to them.

Enough health and beauty care items were entered on an Amazon Wish List to fill 1,000 drawstring bags. An appeal for donations was sent out to Secular Franciscans through regional ministers throughout the U.S. Within two days, most of the items on the initial list were purchased. Philipps added more items. Within a week, 50 fraternity and individual donors from the United States and Guam had purchased all $20,000 worth of items.

Another $5,000 was spent on food and household items, such as corn and flour tortilla mix, rice, beans, wipes, laundry soap and floor cleaner. These grocery items were sent to Catholic Charities to directly distribute to immigrants.

Secular Franciscan National Minister Jan Parker, OFS, described the effort this way:

“Pope Francis says, ‘Love isn’t words, but works and service; a humble service performed in silence without seeking acclaim.’ 

“Our outreach here is simple, hands-on, Franciscan love in action.  With God’s grace these bags of blessings will not only bless those in need, but help open hearts of others to hear the cry of the poor. Our Secular Franciscan Rule challenges us to be instruments of joy, hope and healing, but to also take courageous action in the field of public life. Our bishops explain it this way – we are to walk with both feet of love: the foot of charitable works, which we are doing here, but also the foot of social justice, addressing systemic, root causes of problems that affect many people.”

Secular Franciscans’ Service Project to Aid 1,000 Immigrants

2019 OFS-USA Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Award winner, Kent Ferris, OFS, (center), is congratulated by the JPIC Commission Chair Carolyn Townes, OFS, (left) and National Minister Jan Parker, OFS, (right).

By Sharon Winzeler, OFS

Kent Ferris, OFS, is the 2019 recipient of the National Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Award presented at the Secular Franciscan Order’s National Chapter, held Oct. 15-20 at Pax Christi Liturgical Retreat Center in Corpus Christi.

Ferris voiced the need to advocate on behalf of immigrants and refugees, who are among the people he serves as director of social action and Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa.

Ferris expressed gratitude to the refugees, including a family who fled violence in southern Sudan only to face hate-filled, anti-Muslim notes left on their community’s residences in the U.S. He felt compelled to apologize for such intolerance, he said, but the refugees themselves were “very gracious.”

He also said he was inspired by such individuals as Diego and Pedro who fled threats in their country and “expressed confusion and sadness but never bitterness at having been separated at the border for 40 days, with young Pedro being taken to the state of New York while Diego remained in custody and then finding themselves in need of family reunification services after the trauma of separation.”

Ferris is a past national JPIC chair for the order and has been an action commissioner for the Franciscan Action Network (FAN). He belongs to  the order’s Franciscans of the Prairie Region.

He said he felt humbled by the award because most of his daily work is for justice and peace.

“I work for a diocese, on a bishop’s staff. This is what I do all day every day.”

Ferris said he was grateful for all of the people who have helped him work in the area of social justice, especially Bishop Martin Amos who hired him 10 years ago and Bishop Thomas Zinkula for whom he currently works.

Ferris and his wife Lori have both been Secular Franciscans for 27 years.  Their children—Clare, 20; Miles, 17; and Lucy, 15—were raised in the order.

“My children, having grown up in a Franciscan household, know exactly what a Transitus service is,” he said.  “They also would look every year to see if their birthdays fell on the first Sunday of the month so they would know whether or not birthday celebrations would occur after a local fraternity meeting.”

Ferris also expressed gratitude to Secular Franciscans around the country.

“I am quite convinced that had I not experienced such a deep and profound sense of fraternity at so many times and places, I could not have served the Lord to the extent that I have,” he said.

JPIC Award Honors Works with Refugees