Marryknoll Lay Missioner, Maria Corazón Angeles with MKLM Mission Services Department Manager, Daniel Lizarraga.
On July 16, 2026, the Maryknoll Monarch Initiative hosted its midyear series of webinars titled “The Many Ways We Accompany: Faithful Responses to Migration.” The hybrid event was held via Zoom and in person at St. Patrick Cathedral’s Ministry Center in El Paso, Texas. Attending in person were a group of students from Christ the King Jesuit High School in Chicago, visiting El Paso on an immersion trip to learn firsthand about migrant life at the Southern Border and the challenges faced by families seeking safety and opportunity.
The program featured two presenters: Maria Corazon Angeles, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner serving in El Paso as a staff attorney with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, and Ann Coady, a longtime Maryknoll Affiliate, educator, and community worker currently based in Wisconsin. Together, they framed migration not only as a policy issue but as a lived human experience requiring sustained accompaniment, compassion, and action.
Women of Maryknoll
Maria Corazon offered a detailed overview of the current immigration environment, describing it as rapidly shifting, with regulations and policies changing almost week to week, but consistently trending toward heightened enforcement, expanded arrests and deportations, increased restrictions on legal pathways to immigration, erosion of human rights protections, and increased ICE presence in schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. The situation, she added, is especially acute in El Paso, a border city that is a major hub for migration and, more recently, home to one of the largest migrant detention centers in the country. Local community organizations, legal aid groups, and support networks have been forced to adapt quickly to meet urgent needs. Efforts have shifted from general “know your rights” education to more immediate “know your risks” guidance as policies evolve. At the same time, nonprofits are under significant strain, with limited resources stretched thin by the volume and urgency of cases.
Ann Coady brought a complementary perspective, reflecting on her more than three decades of work as an educator, organizer, and community worker alongside migrants. She shared personal stories that highlighted the resilience, strength, and hope she has witnessed in migrant communities. Even in the face of profound challenges, Ann said, migrants often maintain a sense of humor and an enduring determination to build better lives.
The event also highlighted the broader mission of the Maryknoll family around the world, Lay Missioners, Affiliates, Sisters, and Fathers and Brothers, who continue to walk in solidarity alongside migrants, the marginalized, the poor, and the vulnerable. Grounded in Catholic social teaching and the call to love one’s neighbor, the webinar emphasized that faithful responses are not only about policy or advocacy, but about relationship, presence, and enduring commitment to community and the common good.
Angela Turner serves as the Maryknoll Lay Missioners Communications Manager.
