Dear Friends,
Margie Winters, Program Director, invites me and the others in the room to look closely at the images we hold in our hands. As part of the ancient practice of Visio Divina—rooted in St. Benedict’s sixth-century tradition—Margie invites us to slow down and truly see. She encourages us to notice colors and shapes, to pause and reflect on what the image reveals, and to listen for how God’s Spirit might be speaking through it. She asks us to connect these insights to why we’ve gathered tonight: to respond to the pain, anger, and uncertainty arising from our time’s struggles with immigration and racism.
In the room, I sit together with other executive directors, members of religious orders, immigrants, a professor from St. Joseph’s University’s Pedro Arrupe Center, and individuals who have personally visited the border. Each of us has witnessed the cruelty, racism, fear, and exhaustion of the immigration crisis. Each of us feels called to respond. We have answered an invitation to meet, to listen deeply—to one another and to the Spirit beneath it all.
I take a deep breath and look down at the image of a boy and girl pointing to a green wall filled with empty frames. The man sitting beside me lets me see his image: a bird chained to a white cinderblock, seven black crows flying free in the background. “Which bird do you identify with?” I ask. He pauses. “The one tethered to the block—helpless, longing to fly free.” My breath catches.
Later, over dinner, Deidre, Executive Director of Women Empowered, stands up to say: “We pretend we can do this alone. But really? We need to lock arms—to come together.” Heads nod. Hands reach out to touch her shoulder as she returns to her seat.
Joanne, a Mercy Associate, recalls listening to recordings of crying children during her recent visit to the southern border. Peter, Executive Director of the New Sanctuary Movement, shares the exhaustion of his staff and volunteers. He calls Cranaleith a “well of hope,” a place to return after ICE raids and deportations: “Here, we can say, ‘We’ve got this. We’ve got this together.’ Those are the moments of energy I hold on to very, very closely.”
Last month, I attended an informative session about key data related to immigration and the needs of the Philadelphia region. Listening to the panel of experts, scanning the graphs and charts, I learned a lot. But there is something missing—isn’t there?—in numbers and figures and facts. Like frames missing faces.
But here at Cranaleith? You and me? We hold a different kind of picture. Here, we look for what we are meant to do and be. Together, we can find a way to fly free.
In Peace and Mercy,
Dawn L. Hayward
Executive Director
