Giving immigrants a face by sharing stories

TIMONIUM – Of average height and with thick white hair, Sister Norma Pimentel of the Missionaries of Jesus is not an imposing figure. Her soft, steady voice, however, captivated the audience at Church of the Nativity Oct. 21, as she shared stories about working with refugees in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

In her talk at Catholic Charities of Baltimore’s annual social justice symposium, Sister Norma said she was there, standing before all of them at the Timonium gathering, because she said “yes.”

“I went ahead and said yes to God … to change me into helping me discover who I am and who he wanted me to be,” Sister Norma said in her talk, “From Stranger to Neighbor: An Immigration Call to Action.”

One of her first assignments as a religious sister, she said, was to help immigrants arriving daily outside Brownsville, Texas. She was even arrested for defending the immigrants outside a congressman’s office.

“That moment for me was so difficult. To face up to a reality of ‘why did I say yes?’” Sister Norma said of her decision to stay and be arrested so her superior could leave. “At that age, I started to realize that I was called to stand up for humanity, to defend and not be silent. I realized that it was not OK to just let others do, but it was my turn to say and do something about it.”

She spoke of visiting children kept in detention facilities because they were unaccompanied – children who had been traveling with grandparents, aunts, uncles or neighbors to get to their parents in the United States – and were separated to help protect them from human trafficking and other dangers though the government was not equipped to house them.

“Kids were there for weeks – children, little ones, all dirty and crying. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life,” Sister Norma said, of trying to get to the center of the children to pray with them. “I started to cry. I couldn’t understand how we, the United States, could have those kids there.

“It’s not OK. We are all guilty of this,” Sister Norma said. “And that happened because we failed to have the proper procedures and processes in place to make sure that a child, anyone, should not be held in those circumstances.”

During a question-and-answer session afterward led by Dave Kinkopf, executive director of Catholic Charities of Baltimore, Sister Norma was asked what kept her energized and hopeful. She noted that she started every single day with God.

“I’m there for God for one hour just to make sure my day goes the way he wants me to go,” she said. “He fills me up with the right energy to know what I must do with it.”’

Just being at the symposium gave her hope, she said, because “you’re interested. You’re saying yes to God.”

When asked how she engages with people who have a different perspective, she advised everyone to “focus on the good that you see in others.”

“That will attract so that you can share your good and can build on that good, and they are more open to listen,” Sister Norma said. “Let’s share some time. Let’s share the goodness that we see in each other. That is definitely how I think we can conquer the separation, the differences between us.”

“Sister Pimentel has become a voice for immigrants, reminding us they’re not just numbers. They’re human beings who should be respected and treated with dignity,” Madelin Martinez, director of advocacy for Catholic Charities of Baltimore, said in her introduction of Sister Norma.

“I had the honor of spending a lot of time with her today, and I gotta say, she’s such a shining light to all of us,” said Martinez, noting that Catholic Charities is also “deeply invested in standing with our immigrant neighbors.”

Elizabeth Thompson, 18, a senior at Mercy High School in Baltimore, was surprised, she said at a dessert reception afterward, by how emotional the evening was.

“Every single story she told, I could feel the emotion coming off of her and I myself was impacted,” said Thompson, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist in Hydes. “It definitely brought things down to earth because these were real stories of real fears and emotions that everybody faces, like when she told the story of being arrested. That’s a fear everybody has and the doubts that everybody has ‘oh should I have done that?’ but she continued to push through, and I think that’s a goal everybody should strive to do.”

Part of changing one’s perspective is listening to others, said Eamon Lewis-Stull, 14, a ninth grader at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson. 

“I knew there was an issue – that there were plenty of people coming into the border, but you know I’ve never met them,” he said. “She’s a person who’s been with them and who has been doing this work for so long. I think it is important to learn from people like her because she knows what she is talking about.”

Sister Norma’s talk was also inspirational for students from Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson as 15 students will visit El Paso, Texas, over spring break, to help at the mission.

“What a way to prepare. To meet someone like her,” Steve Pomelon, director of social service at NDP, said afterward, as his students gathered around Sister Norma for a photo. “This has been powerful.”

“She’s inspiring and touching,” Kinkopf said, afterward of Sister Norma. “Her stories help put a real human face on things. All of us are God’s children.”

Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org

Also see:

Radio Interview: The impact of immigration and welcoming the stranger

Read more immigration and migration

Interfaith migration policy summit seeks common ground on welcoming the stranger

Pope receives letters from ICE detainees, pastoral workers in Chicago

Pope Leo sends special message of support to interfaith immigration policy summit

Court allows multifaith challenge of Trump administration policy to permit ICE arrests at churches

Haitian Catholics in Philly mark 50 years of faith, despite immigration crackdown

Ministry of accompaniment offers loving presence to immigrants facing hearings, ICE check-ins

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