Can you
imagine opening your doors to anyone who comes to your home looking for a place
to stay, no matter their health condition or legal status? Every day the
Sisters of Divine Providence welcome strangers into their emergency shelter —
La Posada Providencia in San Benito.
When answering the telephone or opening her
door, Sister Zita Telkamp, who has served as the shelter’s executive director
for 13 years, never knows who will need her assistance. “We never turn anyone
away,” she said.
Since the sisters opened in the center 28
years ago in 1989 they and volunteers have served more than 9,000 people from
81 countries. Many of their clients arrive with only the clothes on their
backs, and “with hope in their pockets,” said Sister Telkamp. The stories
recounted by the men, women and children overflow with hardships from their
long journeys in search of safety and a better life.
Pope Francis is asking us to share the
journey with our migrant and immigrant brothers and sisters. But long before he
announced the international campaign on Sept. 27, Sister Telkamp and so many
others in our diocese have been answering the call, witnessing to the power of
accompanying others.
The campaign draws us to ask ourselves the
question, “How are we sharing the journey?”
When considering this month’s Close to Home
pilgrimage, I felt a prompting to do more than visit a traditional religious
site. St. John Paul II reminded us a pilgrimage is “a process of conversion, a
yearning for intimacy with God.” He said it is a gift of grace.
When we reach out to others and share our
time, that is also a part of the pilgrimage, one the sisters and volunteers at
La Posada Providencia live daily. I went to the shelter in August to report on
the visit from Catholic Extension and Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, and was drawn
to return in September. This time I made some time to volunteer.
Sister Telkamp always has something for
volunteers to do, whether it’s for an hour, a weekend or more. Help is needed
with the vegetable garden, inputting data or tutoring a student, among other
activities. Elvira Canales of La Feria has been volunteering every Tuesday for
the past five years, and has recruited other volunteers to join her. She said
she draws great joy from her work.
On the Tuesday I visited, I tutored three
young girls with their English lesson for the day. I confess I was nervous as I
did not know in advance what I would be doing. Sister Therese Cunningham of the
Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate put me at ease reminding me of
the essentials — love and patience. As the young girls practiced their English
we shared some stories. Yuriel from Honduras also instructed me on how to make
tajadas, fried bananas. Another highlight: holding a one-month old baby, Hilda,
born on the Feast of the Assumption.
Sister Cunningham, who has been at La Posada
Providencia for 12 years, said her time at the shelter has been a learning
experience and one that has enriched her life. “I feel privileged to be a part
of this wonderful ministry here at La Posada.”
“Their faith inspires me; their faith in
divine providence that God is going to be there for them,” she said. “Sure they
have anxiety and moments when their down and depressed,” she added, “but
underneath that they have a real trust and a real faith.”
She said sometimes it can be a challenge on
how to serve “our immigrant brothers and sisters” who are at the shelter for
just a short period of time. “It may just be to be compassionate at heart, to
be a compassionate presence, to listen to their story. It might be to give them
a hug, a smile, just to be there to tend to their needs in this particular
moment and show them they are valued, that they are reverenced because they are
God’s creation, that we are all brothers and sisters on a journey.”
“While we’re here on earth,” she said, “we
have this opportunity to be God’s hands and feet and heart for one another.”
To visit or
volunteer, call (956) 399-3826.
(Originally
published in October 2017 edition of The Valley Catholic newspaper)
