FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Elise D. García, OP or Carol Coston, OP
November 17, 2010 (830) 537-4327 or (210) 317-4195 or (210) 317-4185
TEXAS CATHOLIC SISTERS
CALL ON SENATOR HUTCHISON
TO MEET WITH HUNGER-STRIKING UTSA STUDENTS
IN SUPPORT OF DREAM ACT
Catholic Sisters from diverse religious orders and congregations ministering in Texas, primarily in the San Antonio area, today called on Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) to meet with UTSA students who, on Nov. 10, started a hunger strike as a last-resort effort to win passage of the DREAM Act in the lame duck session of Congress. The students have been seeking an opportunity to meet with Sen. Hutchison to have “an open dialogue” about legislation that would provide undocumented students, who were brought to the United States as children, a pathway to legal status. Several of the hunger strikers are undocumented themselves, risking not only physical injury but also deportation.
In a letter addressed to Senator Hutchison, the Sisters called on her to meet with the students to discuss the DREAM Act. “While we decidedly share your concern for the safety and welfare of the students pursuing the hunger strike, we also share their hopes and dreams for a future in the only country they have ever known,” the Sisters wrote. “You are not the first to express concern about their safety or to urge consideration of other methods! But these young people, like other courageous figures in our nation’s history are standing up for something they believe in—making enormous sacrifices to secure a remedy for some 210,000 fellow students in Texas and some 2 million similarly situated students nationwide.”
Nearly thirty Sisters from ten congregations signed the letter, which concluded: “We ask you to meet with these students so that you might engage in an open dialogue, share views on the matter, and come up with a just, workable proposal. We urge you to join the march of history and play a key leadership role in helping to enact DREAM Act legislation in this session of Congress.”
A copy of the letter is attached.
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TEXAS CATHOLIC SISTERS
28 Hein Road * Boerne, TX 78006 * 830.537.4327
November 17, 2010
The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Hutchison,
As residents of Texas and Roman Catholic Sisters who are members of diverse congregations and orders of women religious serving and ministering in Texas, most in the San Antonio area, we write to express our concern about Congress’s failure to act on comprehensive immigration reform, including the DREAM Act, and the current efforts to press for immigration reform of some of our young people at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
One week ago today, on Nov. 10, a group of UTSA students began a hunger strike to press for passage of the DREAM Act in the lame-duck Congress, when legislation is expected to be reintroduced. On the fourth day of their hunger strike, these students marched for seven hours, from UTSA’s campus on the city’s outer loop to the San Fernando Cathedral in downtown San Antonio. Some of us were there on Saturday evening, watching them light candles and prayerfully hold vigil in the shadow of our nation’s oldest continuously operating cathedral.
The students have asked to meet with you. On Monday, Nov. 15, they met with members of your staff in San Antonio and expressed their desire to engage in “open dialogue” with you, knowing that you have supported the DREAM Act in the past. Soon after the inconclusive meeting, your office released a press statement in which you stated your opposition to “the current DREAM Act legislation” and expressed concerns “for the safety and welfare of the students pursuing the hunger strike.” Your statement admonished the students to pursue “safer and more constructive methods of promoting their cause.”
Senator, a number of these students have been pursuing “constructive” methods for promoting comprehensive immigration reform, including the DREAM Act, for the past ten years. While we decidedly share your concern for the safety and welfare of the students pursuing the hunger strike, we also share their hopes and dreams for a future in the only country they have ever known. Parents, teachers, and friends are very proud of these students and the integrity and soulfulness of their actions, yet deeply alarmed by their potential ramifications. You are not the first to express concern about their safety or to urge consideration of other methods! But these young people, like other courageous figures in our nation’s history, are standing up for something they believe in—making enormous sacrifices to secure a remedy for some 210,000 fellow students in Texas and some 2 million similarly situated students nationwide.
[Letter to Senator Hutchison from Texas Catholic Sisters – p. 2]
We call on you to meet with these students so that you might engage in an open dialogue, share views on the matter, and come up with a just, workable proposal. We urge you to join the march of history and play a key leadership role in helping to enact DREAM Act legislation in this session of Congress. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sister Sylvia Ahr, OSB Boerne Benedictine Sisters
Sister Pearl Ceasar, CDP Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Carol Coston, OP Dominican Sisters of Adrian
Sister Eleanor Cresap, OP Dominican Sisters of Houston
Sister Paula Enderle, OP Dominican Sisters of Houston
Sister Dorothy Ettling, CCVI Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
Sister Lucille Ann Fritsch, CDP Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Barbara Fry, CDP Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Bernie Galvin, CDP Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Elise D. García, OP Dominican Sisters of Adrian
Sister Imelda González, CDP Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Marie M. Griffin, OP Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa
Sister Esther M. Guerrero, MCDP Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence
Sister Neomi Hayes, CCVI Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
Sister Delia M. Herrera, MCDP Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence
Sister Geraldine Kline, OP Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa
Sister Gabriella Lohan, SHSp Srs. of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate
Sister Carol Mayes, OP, Prioress Dominican Sisters of Houston
Sister Susan Mika, OSB Boerne Benedictine Sisters
Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP Dominican Sisters of Adrian
Sister Madlyn Pape, CDP Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Bernadine Reyes, OSB, Prioress Boerne Benedictine Sisters
Sister Cecilia Rodríguez, SSCJ Sr. Serv. of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sister Ceil Roeger, OP Dominican Sisters of Houston
Sister Jane Ann Slater, CDP, Superior General Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Lavergne Schwender, OP Dominican Sisters of Houston
Sister Cindy Stacy, CCVI Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
Sister Yolanda Tarango, CCVI, Cong. Leader Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
Sister Grace Walle, FMI Marianist Sisters
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