MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Spring 2025

Deirdre Griffin, SSJ, Mexico-U.S. Border

Maryknoll lay missioners—current and returned—along with staff and friends gather at Bethany House, the community house in El Paso shared by Maryknoll Lay Missioners and Maryknoll Affiliates to lodge volunteers serving at the border.

EL PASO—No one should have to work under the table, or live under the radar, or wait like dogs for the scraps of food to fall from the table—as I am reminded by the SyroPhoenician woman in the gospel.

For years, I have known about people being forced to work without legal permission in the United States. From undocumented young Irish men painting houses alongside my father when I was a child, to the asylum seekers whom I accompany here at the border, this has been a disturbing reality for far too long.

Over and over again, I have to explain to our Annunciation House guests, the insulting complexities of having to wait until their asylum applications have been pending for six months before they can request permission to work legally in the United States. It has always unsettled me.

The “illusion of deterrence” from which this policy arises presumes that making it difficult for people to work will dissuade them from coming to the United States. If only it were that simple. Most people who come to the United States’ southern border have no other options for the survival of their families. If they did, they would not subject themselves to the horrific suffering and life-threatening risks of making that journey. Criminalizing the work they must do to feed their families upon arrival only compounds the dehumanization of our sisters and brothers, who, in fact, are coming to us as prophets of the ever-burgeoning violence and climate crises that are chasing them to our doors like a fire.

Maryknoll Lay Missioners represented at the Diocese of El Paso’s annual Bi-National Border Mass on Nov. 9, 2024. Lay missioners Sr. Deirdre Griffin (pictured receiving Communion), Heidi Cerneka, and Coralis Salvador were joined by the board of directors, several staff members, and other missioners—current and returned. The Mass was held on a platform in the Rio Grande Canal between El Paso and Juarez, with worshippers gathered on the banks on both sides. The Mass brought together communities from Juarez, El Paso, and Las Cruces, New Mexico to “pray for the migrants that have lost their lives attempting to migrate into the United States at the southern border, and the continued prayers of the Catholic faithful for the continuing needs of the migrant from South and Central America,” the Diocese of El Paso said.

The SyroPhoenician woman approached Jesus to ask him to help her daughter. Her desperation dispelled any hesitation she may have felt for being of a different religious tradition and culture than him. Her love for her daughter propelled her to her knees before the One she recognized as Healer.

In his humanness, Jesus rebuffed her. His limited understanding of himself as being sent only to the Jews prevented him from recognizing the full extent of his own capacity and call. Thankfully, like so many women, she persevered through his dismissal and broadened his understanding for the sake of her child. Jesus’ humility allowed him to hear her moral authority and to change his perspective. Her bold candor in the face of his humiliating discrimination blessed him with a fuller understanding of God’s active, inclusive love and of his own identity.

Where do we hear her voice today? What are the circumstances in which I should be taking up her part and speaking deep truths in the face of small-minded exclusion and violence? Where might I be so moved as to throw myself on my knees before someone who holds the capacity to alleviate the suffering of another?

And on the flip side, as someone invested with some social capital as an attorney, what might be my blind spots right now? As I struggle to maintain some sense of life balance in the face of tremendous unmet need, can I be open to new ways of seeing and serving through the people I accompany here?

The daily work of hospitality that animates our life at Annunciation House keeps me grounded and attuned to newness. Our guests and volunteers help me each day to recognize my limitations, my ongoing growth in ministry, and the abundance of God’s grace.

As I wipe down the tables after dinner, I look to the image on our kitchen wall for inspiration:  “When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher wall.”

Thank you for your encouragement and for any financial donation you can share with MKLM to support my continuing presence here in El Paso.

Let’s continue to pray for one another!

Please consider supporting my mission work at the U.S.-Mexico border with your prayers and a donation through the link below.

I invite you to walk with me as a “COMPANION IN MISSION.” Companions in Mission are friends and generous donors who give financial gifts on a regular (usually monthly) basis. For more information, visit Become a Companion in Mission. Thank you so much for your generosity!