Ministry at the Border
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January 31, 2024The Redemptorist Renewal Center (RRC) incorporated a border ministry immersion program in its sabbatical program, enabling priests and religious from throughout the world to experience the reality of migration in the Southwest portion of the USA.
Whenever possible, RRC staff members accompany participants in the new program, which entails dropping off water in the desert, searching for the remains of migrants who died in the desert, or serving meals to migrants and asylum seekers at the border wall or in Mexico.
The number of asylum seekers has increased from 700 a day last summer to 1,500 a day last October. Although most came from Central or South America in the past, in recent months they are arriving from countries around the world – India, Russia, and many parts of Africa.
In early January, Fr. Steve Rehrauer, director of the RRC, joined two women religious and lay volunteers in a mission at the Mexican border wall to provide asylum seekers with food, water, warm clothing, and first-aid supplies. The people came through an opening gap in the border wall about 15 miles east of Sasabe, a U.S. Port of Entry town in Arizona.
That morning, volunteers provided assistance to about 60 asylum seekers, including 15 to 20 children and teenagers. Fr. Steve and the volunteers were able to give them food before Border Patrol agents came to transport them to a detention center.
The RRC works with several border ministry groups, including: Tucson Samaritans, Aguilas del Desierto, Kino Border Initiative, and the Diocese of Tucson’s Casa Alitas. Any Redemptorist who wishes to participate in the new migrant immersion experience may contact Fr. Steve or Peter Tran at 520.744.3400. Please note that the search and rescue portion requires strenuous walking – up to 10 or more miles – in the desert.
Read Peter Tran’s latest article about these groups welcoming migrants and asylum seekers at the border at: