Sisters help immigrants achieve their dreams

By LOU BALDWIN
Special to The CS&T

You would never expect to find nuns at a used truck auction. But in 1996 St. Joseph Sister Marian Behrle and some other Sisters found themselves at such an event looking for a large walkthrough van. One came up for bidding, with the opening bid $1,000. The Sisters bid. Other bidders saw they were nuns and kept quiet. They got the van.
They weren’t going in to the moving business. The Sisters needed the van for conversion into a portable classroom for a literacy program they were beginning in North Philadelphia.
“I was a classroom teacher and principal and I saw how parents’ inability to speak and write English impacted their children’s education,” Sister Marian said. “I loved to teach reading and it seemed a natural step to teach adults.”
The van traveled to St. Hugh, St. Michael, Visitation and Ascension parishes, and also initially, to St. Martin de Porres.
One person the Sisters were able to help was 63-year-old Evelyn, who had only four years of schooling because of family needs. Deep down, she knew she was intelligent, but she had always felt inferior because she was illiterate. Now she’s reading voraciously, and is grateful for what the Sisters made possible.
With success stories like these, the program flourished and eventually outgrew the van. Since last March, it has been headquartered in its own building, The St. Joseph Sisters Welcome Center at 728 E. Allegheny Ave.
“We also use space in several parishes for the classes,” said Sister Eileen Marnien, who serves as the director. The full-time staff includes herself, Sister Marian, Sister Marie Lewis, Sister Pat Madden and former St. Joseph Sister’s superior general Sister Margaret Fleming.
In the beginning, the Sisters assumed the work would mostly involve cases like Evelyn’s; American-born people whose schooling was limited. However, the Sisters discovered the real need in that geographic area was English as a Second Language (E.S.L.) programs for immigrants.
The Welcome Center is funded through donations, foundation grants and the Sisters of St. Joseph. About 116 adults take classes on a regular basis.
“We have Hispanics, Vietnamese, Palestinians, Arabs and a large Albanian population,” Sister Eileen said. Because the Sisters and their 26 volunteers do not speak all of these languages, “we’ve gotten very good at pantomime. Very often, there is someone who speaks their language with better English who can bridge the gap.”
Recent arrivals may be legal immigrants or undocumented workers, but they have one thing in common. “They are hardworking people who often have come (here so) their children (can) have a better life,” she said.
Literacy programs are just a starting point, because the Sisters have discovered that many of these new arrivals have other issues which need to be addressed, and their lack of English skills make this very difficult.
“It may be health care, utility bills, immigration issues, or problems with their rent. They are often taken advantage of by landlords and sometimes it only takes a phone call to straighten it out.”
The Sisters develop long-standing relationships with the people they serve. Those who come from countries with a strong Catholic community, perhaps Vietnam or parts of Africa, feel comfortable coming to the Sisters with their difficulties.
Valentin, from Cameroon, is typical of this group. A legal immigrant with political asylum status, he’d been a diocesan worker in his homeland, but ran afoul of authorities when he encouraged people to register to vote. In America, he could only find work as a busboy; hardly sufficient to earn the money needed to bring his wife and six children to Philadelphia.
Through the Welcome Center and other groups, better employment was found for him at St. Malachy Parish. Through that parish, a generous donor was found to pay the way for the family so they could be reunited.
“Since I’ve come in contact with you Sisters, everything seems possible,” Valentin wrote. “I doubted before I came to the Welcome Center. My family will soon be in the United States. You make me so happy.”
Another immigrant, Antonio, said the Sisters are never too busy to help. “If you need help, they are always there for you,” he said. “I never get tired of saying I feel happy now because I know that the Sisters care about me and my family. They love us.”
Vjolle, another newcomer, has similar sentiments. Through the Sisters and Welcome House, she’s been studying English for two years. The Sisters helped her children with homework, bought them clothing when needed and gave them other supplies.
“Thank you very much and God bless you,” she writes.
The Sisters must have done a thorough job. Vjolle is now a teacher herself.
For further information contact The St. Joseph Welcome Center at (215) 634-1696.

Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and former staff writer for The CS&T.