Dear St. Frances,
Last year on this day, I wrote you, patron of immigrants, apologizing for the despicable treatment of immigrants under the current White House. The litany is familiar: children wrenched from their parents. Masked men deporting people in unmarked vans, with no due process. Most victims have no criminal records, were working productively and raising their families in the U.S. for many decades. They vanish into the gulag of prisons in countries with track records of torturing inmates. Despite local protests, detention centers multiply and flights for unknown destinations take off daily at taxpayers’ expense. Funding for ICE is astronomical, and Stephen Miller, the vicious racist engineer of persecutions has just been promoted to White House chief of staff.
But this year, your feast is cause for celebration. The Catholic concept of the communion of saints means that the dead and their experiences, both positive and negative are not so far from our own, but all are part of a larger community. So recent events might delight you. Many states elected women and people of color to office: Deb Haaland as the first Native American woman Governor, Peggy Flanagan as the first Native American woman Senator, Keisha Lance Bottoms as the first African-American woman Governor, Gina Hinojosa, Texas’ first Latina Governor, Byron Donalds, the first Black Republican to be elected governor, and Abdul El-Sayed as the first Muslim-American Senator. (He seemed tickled by the irony that the constitution requires J.D. Vance to swear him in.) I was delighted that our local polling place posted “Vote Here” signs in at least eight different languages.
Historian and professor Heather Cox Richardson says the midterms showed a sea change: from affluent, white, male cronies holding all the power and money, to the way it was intended: we the people have equal rights. Decent, ordinary people who struggle to pay for gas and are one illness or accident away from bankruptcy clearly voiced their disgust for gold and marble ballrooms, rampant corruption at the highest government levels. In a silent, powerful message, some placed their “I Voted” stickers on the shrines erected to those murdered by ICE.
As a saint, you’re probably above gloating. But maybe you could forgive us a little glee when the wealthiest man in the world, who cut off funding for the poorest children, causing over 750,000 deaths, wasted almost a half billion dollars supporting losing candidates. Even better, Mr. Musk now faces oversight from Texas Democratic leadership for his questionable government space contracts.
You might be proud of students from Catholic campuses across the country gathered in the Chicago area October 2 to 4, for the Cabrini Student Organizing Summit on Migration, a weekend hosted by the Ignatian Solidarity Network. Named in your honor, it sent students forth to organize for migration justice. For instance, Creighton University and JRS/USA will recruit undergraduate and graduate students to become approved court observers. For Omaha’s large immigrant population, their accompaniment to court could mean dignity, affirmation and support. Cardinal Blase Cupich preached from a different part of Chicago on themes that resonated with the summit topics. “The Word of God given to us today makes clear that our advocacy on behalf of immigrants is no less important for our discipleship of Jesus than our worship.”
You wrote in your journal, “my God, what sadness!” You and your sisters must’ve cringed when you heard, “you’re only taking care of a few dirty Italians.” But despair never stopped you. Your work grew from a small orphanage in New York City in 1889 to a national network of 67 educational, medical and social service institutions. Without a master plan, you modeled creativity, even panning for gold in Colorado in 1916, hoping to finance the Denver orphanage. You didn’t wait for permission from church authorities to act; indeed, much of the good now seems to spring directly from the people.
Like you, we’re a nation of immigrants. Don’t ever let us forget it, St. Frances!
