40 Latino sisters take on Big Apple to visit historical sites

Russellville sisters learn immigration history on visit to New York City

Published: April 26, 2018

By Aprille Hanson
Associate Editor

Sisters with Catholic Extension’s U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program pose in Times Square during a trip to New York City March 18-19. Sisters working in Arkansas are Sisters Maria Teresa “Tere” de Loera (back right wearing hat), Mayela Baez (second from left) and Maria Magdalena “Magda” Esparza (back, partly visible, far right).

While touring the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in New York City, Sister Maria Teresa “Tere” de Loera said the historical photographs opened her eyes to the reality that the United States has always been a nation of immigrants.

“It was like going back in time seeing all those images and looking at the images and realizing that every human being that had come to this country has come to find a better life,” Sister Tere said through an interpreter.

Catholic Teachers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Sisters Tere, Mayela Baez and Maria Magdalena “Magda” Esparza, who minister to the Hispanic community at St. John Church in Russellville, St. Augustine in Dardanelle and St. Andrew in Danville, were part of the roughly 40 women religious in the Catholic Extension’s U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program that took a trip to New York City in March. The group represented 12 different religious congregations and six Latin American countries.

The sisters were in Boston for college studies when they took a break March 18-19, to travel to the Big Apple, stopping at some of the city’s most significant historical sites, such as the Statue of Liberty, to help them gain a deeper appreciation of the struggles of the nation and its people.

“It was like going back in time seeing all those images and ... realizing that every human being that had come to this country has come to find a better life.” Sister Maria Teresa “Tere” de Loera, after touring Ellis Island in New York City

The exchange program provides funding for religious sisters from Latin America to live and study in the U.S. for five years, while they minister to underserved communities of immigrants in poor and rural U.S. dioceses.

Based in Chicago, Catholic Extension raises and distributes funds to support U.S. mission dioceses, many of which are rural, cover a large geographic area and have limited personnel and pastoral resources.

It was the first time the sisters in Arkansas visited New York City.

“It is a very wonderful city. It’s a historical city where there’s so much to learn from and also experience,” Sister Tere said. “You feel part of its history, how the nation began.”

The sisters first had a brief visit at St. Patrick Cathedral with Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, who Sister Tere called, “a really humble man and he likes to … have that closeness with the people.”

An excursion to the Statue of Liberty allowed the sisters, who serve today’s new waves of American immigrants, to identify with the monument’s famous inscription beckoning, “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

At the feet of Lady Liberty, the sisters offered a prayer on behalf of the tens of thousands of immigrants they collectively serve throughout the nation.

“The prayer that impacted me the most was at the Statue of Liberty because at the end … we started singing the ‘La Guadalupana’ song in Spanish, once we started singing, many others that knew the song joined in,” Sister Tere said, adding, “Even if they didn’t know the song, it seemed like they were joining together in their hearts.”

Then it was on to the Ellis Island museum, the once-bustling port of entry for ships that brought 12 million immigrants to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Several sisters seemed captivated by one exhibit in particular that showcased the history of anti-immigrant sentiment spearheaded by the Know-Nothing Party.

They closely studied an old political cartoon of the pope, depicted with a drawn sword invading the shores of America to apparently impose Catholicism and destroy the country’s beliefs and way of life. The image captured the resentment that many Catholic immigrants from Europe faced when they arrived in America.

The sisters are witnessing firsthand the same fear of the stranger that directly impacts the communities of immigrants they serve.

“I have seen how people from many places across the world have come here to better their lives, but who were faced with great challenges when they came here,” Sister Isabel Donate Valdez told Extension magazine. She serves farmworkers in central Washington state.

The sisters also visited the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Together they offered a soft-spoken prayer for all the innocent people and heroes who lost their lives in the 2001 terrorist attacks and for all the families that mourn them.

“Just seeing how hatred can cause so much destruction,” was overwhelming, Sister Tere said, but adding, “and even (despite) that hatred, with courage and love, how things can be rebuilt.”

Sister Yelitza Ayala, who serves families in rural east Texas, led the prayer, asking God to allow “peace to reign in our hearts and in our souls and in the whole world.”

In between moments of education, the sisters had some fun, marching into Times Square with an American flag, snapping photos for their respective motherhouses throughout Latin America. They also enjoyed some traditional New York City pizza.

“Everyone was gathering together waiting a long time for their pizza to come,” and when it was finally brought out, “all the sisters started clapping for the waiters, who offered an extra free pizza to each table,” Sister Tere said.

For the sisters in Arkansas, Sister Tere said seeing New York City was about celebrating “the joy of encounter.”

“Everyone comes from different cultures; we are called to share, to respect each other and live the commandment of love regardless of race, culture because we are all children of God,” Sister Tere said.

Josh Boland contributed to this article.

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