A Day Without an Immigrant
Sister Mary McCauley, BVM embraces an immigrant friend.
A paper written by Sister Mary McCauley, BVM delivered by Reverend Nils Hernandez at Lincoln Park in Waterloo, Iowa on July 1, 2024 at a gathering of marchers for Iowa Immigration.
A Day Without an Immigrant
Some of you are probably asking who this 86-year-old woman is, who is addressing you today . . . whose words Father Nils is reading. Permit me to tell you who I am.
I am the woman who had the privilege, the challenge, and the grace to serve as the Pastoral Administrator of St. Bridget’s Parish in Postville, Iowa at the time of the infamous Immigration Raid at Agriprocessors, the meat processing plant, on May 12, 2008. I am also the woman whose heart was broken yet emboldened by the actions of our country on that memorable day.
I am the one who through pain and tears, through listening and observing, through hard work and conviction, made a commitment along with many others to do all that we could to welcome and support our immigrant brothers and sisters. I am the woman who promised never to give up on raising the consciousness about our need for comprehensive immigration reform and about the value and dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters.
And now today I am joining you through these spoken words as together we try to imagine what Iowa or any other state would be like if we did not have our present-day immigrants living and working with us side by side . . . bringing food to our table, friendship to our communities, enrichment to our society, and love to our families.
Father Nils has informed me that the theme for your prayer, your March, your gathering is: A Day Without an Immigrant.
Oh my, what a sad day that would be! What an unimaginable, incomprehensible, and unjust day that would be!
It is impossible for me to fathom A Day Without an Immigrant. The title is powerful! I love it! It calls for great reflection and hopefully change. Yet, as powerful as it is, I am going to be bold enough to suggest another title or theme for your event and that is . . . A DAY WITH AN IMMIGRANT.
Yes, I would like to invite the people who write and enforce our laws, especially as they apply to our immigrants and refugees, to pause before they act and literally spend a day, a week, or a month WITH AN IMMIGRANT.
I wonder if our state representatives and senators, and our governors and mayors would have created and hoped to have signed into law legislation such as SF2340 if they first had an opportunity to spend a day working side by side with our immigrants on a dairy farm, or in a meat processing plant, or in a field picking cherries. I wonder . . . yes, I wonder . . . if our legislation would be different if the creators of our immigration laws sat down at the same table, ate the same food, listened to the stories, got to know the families, heard WHY they left their home country, heard why their love for their families and hope for a better future caused them to make the decision that they did. I wonder, yes, I wonder, would life be different if we all had the privilege of spending a day, a week, or a month with an immigrant!
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to join you this afternoon, not in person but through this spoken word, in expressing our common hope for a change in our immigration laws and for a spirit of welcome and respect to permeate our personal lives, homes, schools, workplaces, and cities. Please know that you are all loved, appreciated, and admired!
Finally, I thank Father Nils for sharing my message, my hope, my beliefs, my commitment, and my love, with you!
—Sister Mary McCauley, BVM
Related: Cedar Valley residents protest, rally against appeal of blocked Iowa immigration law