Welcome of the heart: Sisters build bonds in collaborative effort to assist immigrants

Sr. Pat Connolly threads her way past dozens of families lining the third-floor halls of San Antonio's Travis Park Church. In former Sunday school classrooms filled with blue and green cots, some 270 immigrants from Central America, Haiti and the Congo will take shelter tonight, a stopover on their way to what they hope is a new life in other parts of the country. As Connolly passes, they tug at her arm and pepper her with questions.

A woman holds up a leaking baby bottle and asks if there is another. Around the corner, two young Haitian girls point to their bare feet. Are there flip flops available, one asks? Moments later a young girl says she is hungry.

"Lo siento," sister says shaking her head. There is no food in the overnight shelter. "I'm sorry."

On this June evening, Connolly and Sr. J.T. Dwyer, both Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, join volunteers helping border crossers after they are released from Texas Border Patrol stations and detention centers. They are among some 1,000 Catholic sisters in border states who have been ministering to immigrants seeking safety in the U.S. since the surge began last fall, according to Leadership Conference of Women Religious estimates.