The Humanitarian Respite Center’s 10th anniversary on Tuesday coincided with the Biden administration’s announcement of new guidelines that will further limit the number of workers released north of the border.
A unique Catholic Mass was held on Tuesday, presided over by Bishop Daniel Flores of the Brownsville Diocese, to honor the ten years of service to workers provided by the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which established and manages the Respite Center.
During the services held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Flores said,” The support of the Respite Center, specifically for the immigrant area, is a globe that graces those and assist those who need help.”
The chapel, located three blocks away from Respite Center, was the organization’s original site when it was hastily established in 2014 by Sister Norma Pimentel, senior director of Catholic Charities RGV.
Since next, the facility has moved three days until finding its current site, across from the hectic city bus station.
According to Pimentel, it has assisted over 1.2 million workers and is continuing to do so.
The celebration on Tuesday “was a very significant way to demonstrate how our society works together to make a change.” When we see someone there’s a need in our group and we work together — from the laws protection to the churches, to the people — anyone. We were just one area responding to the society, to the people that are suffering”, Pimentel said. ” We saw them here at our own bus stop. And we resolved what we saw right away without any doubts, focusing solely on being one.
After some society people called Sister Norma back in June 2014 to say they had noticed numerous immigrant families wandering and some lying on the sidewalks close to the bus stop, the center changed.
A flurry of asylum seekers put McAllen on a global map and in the forefront of immigration problems for years to come.
Torres said that despite cultural, religious, political and another variations, the Rio Grande Valley society, as a whole, has supported the Humanitarian Respite Center through donations and generosity and tolerence.
The assistance and cooperation of a lot of people, which to me is one of the most significant indications of God’s work in all of this is, worked out effectively. Since a work of kindness comes from God, it may encourage others to be good, whether or not they are Catholic, Flores said during his sermon at the Mass.
He also joked that some people could ignore Sister Norma’s soft-spoken calls, who had gained notoriety worldwide.
Within weeks of noticing the refugees, she had persuaded the bishop to permit them to remain at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Then she persuaded the City of McAllen to provide beds, cooling units, and tents for borrowing.
Finally, as a result, food and clothing donations started pouring in from all over the nation and even the entire world.
Flores claimed that the bishop asked where Brownsville was when he was in Rome at the Vatican in October and that he had read his name badge. He claimed that Sister Norma lives there. And the Pope lit up with reputation, he joked.
Sister Norma distributed wires that Flores had blessed to those who helped found and continue to support the centre.
She said,” We are wishing we can continue to advance what we did in these ten years.”
Javier Aguilera, 40, of El Salvador was among 150 prison applicants being helped at the Humanitarian Respite Center on Tuesday.
He says without their assistance, like a hot meal and clothing, he would n’t make it to California where he hopes to find work in a factory.
” Thank God for this position and for these people”, he said.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].
