Catholic Charities: Welcoming immigrants to Catholic communities

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
As part of the Sept. 14 ongoing formation day for the permanent deacons of the Diocese of Sioux City, Catholic Charities presented Welcoming Immigrants in rural Iowa to our Catholic Communities. Amy Bloch, Catholic Charities executive director, and Norma Garza Ramirez, case manager for Welcome, were presenters. (Welcome provides immigration legal services, case management and mental health care in the diocese through Catholic Charities.)
 
“How do we welcome individuals into our Catholic communities? Some have been in our communities for a while. We want to talk about the challenges they are facing. In a practical sense talk about things we can all do and you as deacons can do,” Bloch addressed the group.
 
Experiences shape biases
All individuals come with their unique biases, the speakers explained, shaped by upbringing and experiences.
 
“We all have biases. If we say we don’t, it would be a lie,” Bloch pointed out, adding that she was raised in a small rural Minnesota community that was primarily white. “It’s important that we acknowledge (our biases) … If we know where we are coming from, it allows us to acknowledge them. If we have them, we can set them aside and then learn to see the world differently.”
 
Garza Ramirez shared that she was raised in a border town in south Texas near McAllen, raised by her grandmother. She said they often crossed into Mexico to see family and friends.
 
“I thought it was part of Texas. I never heard the word immigrant or illegal. I never thought they were different in status than me,” the case manager said. “I wasn’t raised with different races; I grew up in a brown community. I never saw a great diverse population until I came to live in Nebraska.”
 

Norma Garza Ramirez and Amy Bloch of Catholic Charities

When she moved to Nebraska 20 years ago, she first heard the term “illegal alien,” and had no idea what it meant. 
The immigrant experience can be very different to someone born and raised in the United States, Bloch said.
 
Garza Ramirez shared the story of a client, “Mary,” an undocumented woman who came to the U.S. 17 years ago from Mexico.
 
“She left her child. She came to the U.S. to give her son a better life. She hasn’t seen her child in 10 years. She didn’t have a work permit but found all kinds of work including hotel cleaning to put her son through college. Last week, she came into our office to tell us her son graduated from college in Mexico with a degree in psychology. She missed a great part of his life – school, birthdays, important celebrations, graduating with a masters’ degree… she now has her 10-year working document,” the case manager said, adding there are numerous stories about immigrants’ experiences.
 
Meeting challenges
 
Bloch noted earlier in the day Deacon Mark Prosser (read more here) pointed out language was the number one challenge in ministering to immigrants.
 
“Think about the challenges of going to the grocery store, going to buy gas. We hear, ‘You shouldn’t be in this country if you don’t speak English.’ It takes time for people to learn our language and we welcome all,” the director said.
 
As Catholic Charities serves people speaking a variety of languages and many Spanish-speakers, a guide of 10 common phrases in Spanish was created to help English-only speakers respond to those calling in before referring them to a bilingual staff member.
 
“Google is free and there are tons of languages it can translate,” Bloch said, demonstrating how the app translates spoken language as well as written. “We also use Pocket Talk, which you can get on Amazon and have a conversation back and forth. It scans documents and translates them. I encourage parents to have these. It’s a great resource in different languages.”
 
In addition to language, cultural norms also present challenges for anyone working with immigrants. Bloch shared an example of a coworker who had a family member die from suicide and the co-worker noted, “it’s different than in America.”
 
“I asked her, ‘Would you mind telling me about that?’ It was eight days of saying the rosary and Mass every day for the family before they have the funeral,” Bloch said, pointing out because of their relationship she was able to learn about the customs in her coworkers hometown.
 
Other challenges for immigrants include sending their children to schools “with no cultural representation,” and the challenge of communicating with staff and teachers. Having children translate at medical appointments, “is not in the best interest of the child. Cultural norms are not putting kids in those positions,” Bloch said.
 
Father Brent Lingle, director of the Office of the Diaconate, shared that he had made assumptions when first assigned to Storm Lake and was helping a Micronesian family plan a funeral. He followed his training as a priest for planning and celebrating a funeral.
 
“I had zero experience with Micronesia and those islands,” he said. “When the funeral was done, the whole group was angry with me. There was something I did to offend the entire Micronesian community … Come to find out, I didn’t take up a collection at the funeral … They said this is how we support the church. It’s my fault, I never asked any questions. I omitted something that was a very important part of the culture.”
The priest said as demographics continue to shift and change our communities, ministers are at “the front line” and need to ask questions and learn about those cultural elements.
 
Legal assistance
Garza Ramirez said many immigrants do not know their rights and are intimidated by the term, “legal services.” She shared the story of a woman who thought she was renting to own a home, fell victim to a scammer and was evicted and is now homeless.
 
“They are afraid to seek legal advice,” she said. “They hear the word, ‘legal,’ and they think they are in trouble. Through our Welcome program, I always take time to let them know they have rights. They can call the police if they are in danger. Go to the courthouse if they have questions. They are afraid to go because the courthouse is very intimidating.”

 

Cinthia Rodriguez shared her story of immigrating from Honduras

The deacons learned more about the Welcome program, run through Catholic Charities and funded by the Diocese of Sioux City to assist in meeting the needs of immigrants in northwest Iowa. The program provides immigration legal services, case management and mental health services. 
“We serve all 24 counties. We’ve held different clinics throughout the diocese. The people we serve are from all over the world from so many countries,” Bloch explained. “The stories we hear are unimaginable what many of the clients go through. I feel humbled, blessed and overwhelmed that the diocese has a program like this to help these individuals.”
 
Garza Ramirez shared that her passion for helping immigrants was sparked when she arrived in Nebraska and learned about struggles with the immigration system. She previously worked with domestic abuse survivors where many were immigrants.
 
“My own husband came to the U.S. in the trunk of a car,” she said. “It grew the passion for me to work with the immigrant community and help the best that I can.”
 
Welcome client, Cinthia Rodriguez of Storm Lake, was invited to speak to the deacons and share her immigration story. She is originally from Honduras and came to the United States at age 17 for safety concerns.
 
“I was so mad at my parents. I wanted to go back to Honduras. I didn’t know English; I didn’t know anybody. Our culture is different than (El) Salvador, Guatemala, it’s all different. It was hard for me,” she explained.
 
Rodriguez said her father was able to go to the U.S. with a rare 10-year visa, followed by her mother and brother. She and her sister stayed with relatives.
 Deacon community with Amy Bloch and Norma Garza Ramirez“It was really hard. She decided to pick us up by herself (in Honduras). We came all the way here without papers – nothing. I went through three to four countries as a teen. I’m grateful mom made the decision to come here. It changed my life. It’s so dangerous there. I’m grateful I’m here and that Norma and Revathi (Vongsiprasom, the Welcome immigration attorney) helped with the papers to get me a green card. My husband is getting help to become a citizen. I have faith in God in his timing.”