The Monroe IHM community shares a common origin with three other religious communities: the Pennsylvania-based Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Scranton; Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Immaculata; and the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore. Sisters from our shared communities have established a community in McAllen, Texas. Sisters Mary Elaine Anderson (Scranton), Elvia Mata Ortega (Scranton), Carmen Armenta Lara (Monroe) and Rose Patrice Kuhn (Immaculata) are the core group of sisters who live and minister in McAllen. With this creation of an inter-congregational community, our sisters can directly serve asylum seekers who need temporary respite and help to contact their sponsors in the U.S. Below are monthly updates.
May 2026
Our evolving OSP IHM presence at the border
by Mary Elaine Anderson, IHM
A change from one ministry to the next always brings the opportunity to reminisce about moments of joy, connection, and meaningful service. As I begin the transition from McAllen, Texas, to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and from border ministry to elected leadership, what I will remember most is the profound impact that living in community with IHMs from Philadelphia and Monroe has had on me.
When I first felt called to go to the border, it was clear but not necessarily understood why I needed to go, not alone but with others, specifically with IHM sisters from the other two congregations and with the Oblate Sisters of Providence. After four years of living and ministering together, I realize how deeply rooted we are in Alphonsian spirituality and the dream of Louis Florent Gillet and Theresa Maxis to foster the human aspirations of God’s people and to be a presence of God’s unconditional love for them.
Carmen, Rose, and I have had to be flexible and adapt to the changing circumstances at the border, particularly after the inauguration of the current US administration. We have navigated the unknown well, and ministry to migrants on both sides of the border has continued.
Now, we face a new dilemma—how to maintain an OSP-IHM focus when only two of the four congregations may be permanently present. While we still hope that an Oblate or a Scranton IHM Sister might join Carmen and Rose, we have also been dreaming of new and creative ways to establish an OSP-IHM presence at the border.
What if sisters and associates with similar interests (e.g., peace and justice, care of the Earth, vocations, literacy, care for aging sisters, Haiti, etc.) from each of the four congregations came to the border together for one or two weeks? What new insights might emerge among them? How might they leave their mark on the border community and migrants? What could be their collective gift to our IHM and Oblate Sisters?
We invite you to dream with us. Do you have ideas on how IHMs and Oblates might bring God’s unconditional love to the most vulnerable at the US-Mexico border? Are you being called to volunteer or be a member of the core community? We welcome your thoughts, insights and any way you feel God might be calling you to respond at this time.
April 2026
Accompanying Deportees in Mexico
By Sister Mary Elaine Anderson, IHM
Social media is filled with news about immigrants who have been deported from the U.S. Have you ever wondered about what happens to those who have been deported? Where are they sent? What kind of life will they live apart from their family members who remain in the U.S.?
For the past six weeks, Sister Rose and I have been accompanying the Jesuits to a center for deportees in Matamoros, Mexico. Deportees who are Mexican arrive daily and spend 2-3 days in a center (large tent) set up by the Mexican government and run by the military. There are usually about 150 men and 10 women when we visit on Mondays.
Their stories are heartbreaking. Many of them lived in the U.S. for 10, 20 and even 30 years or more. Some were detained in centers in the U.S. for many months before they were finally deported to Mexico. All of them speak about the children, spouses and friends that they left behind. Watching men and women weep openly on their knees during Mass makes me question the humanity of a process that separates families and stifles the dreams of fathers and mothers who migrated to the U.S. for the well-being of their children.
Before we went to the center, I wondered how we would be received. As U.S. citizens, would we be seen as complicit with the government that deported them? I was shocked by how these men and women welcomed us into their midst. They were grateful for our presence. We were not strangers to them but rather fellow Americans, their neighbors from a country that they and their families had considered home for many years.
Almost all of the deportees arrive with only the clothes that they were wearing when picked up by ICE or that they were given in the detention center. The women, in particular, are desperate for a change of clothes to wear when they leave the center. Recently, one of the women that we met was kidnapped as she journeyed through Mexico. It is a fact that migrants dressed in gray sweatsuits, commonly worn in US detention centers, are easy targets for kidnappers and assailants.
Our OSP-IHM Border Community decided to use money donated by IHM Sisters, Associates and friends to help, in a small way, restore the dignity of our migrant brothers and sisters. Sister Carmen, who cannot cross into Mexico, because she does not want to compromise her own legal status in the U.S., shops for women’s underwear, sanitary supplies and t-shirts as well as toiletries for both men and women. At home, she prepares the bags that Sister Rose and I then deliver to the men and women in the deportee center. It is a community project that we can only do because of your prayerful support and monetary donations!
March 2026
Unaccompanied minors
by Sister Rose Patrice Kuhn, IHM
An estimated 2,400 children are in detention centers in the U.S. because they crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. unaccompanied by an adult. Across the country, these children are brought from their detention centers to immigration courthouses to determine if they will be deported or granted asylum.
As part of our border ministry, I am blessed to meet about 25 children each week at the Immigration Courthouse in Harlingen, Texas. I introduce myself to groups of 3 or 4 waiting for their hearings and ask to join them. After chatting with them, we pray, and I assure them of my presence during their hearings, supporting them spiritually.
The valiant, respectful and nervous children I have met range in age from 4 to 17; they are from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. All I have met have family in the U.S., but since their parents are neither citizens nor permanent residents, the adults cannot claim their children. Very few children have a lawyer or an advocate; the court seems to encourage voluntary departure.
I have so many questions for each child that they can’t be discussed in the waiting room:
- Why did you leave your country? (Violence? Gangs? Poverty? Reunify with your family? Desire for a better life?)
- What dreams do you have?
- What will happen to you if you are deported? Will you be in danger?
As OSP-IHM Sisters, we believe: “Where one of us is, all of us are.” Thank you, Sisters, for accompanying these vulnerable children with your supportive prayers.
February 2026
Making meaningful connections among migrant women and our sisters
by Sister Mary Elaine Anderson, IHM
Thanks to the Sisters of IHM Ministry Grant Fund (Monroe, MI), the OSP-IHM Collaborative Border Community initiated a project that engaged migrant women in making environmentally friendly bags with the OSP-IHM Border Ministry logo.
The funds from the grant supplied the materials needed to make the bags and to pay the women for their work. The bags were completed in November and sent to the retirement communities of the three IHM congregations and the Oblate Sisters of Providence.
Rose, Carmen, and I asked each migrant woman to pray for the sister who would receive the bag that she made. We also assured them that our sisters will continue to pray for them as they struggle to make a better life for their children and their families.
We have heard from some of the sisters who, after receiving their bags, expressed appreciation, love and concern for the migrant women and their families.
The totes are beautifully made and will be very useful in many ways. The Latino-Hispanic women have a nice touch and are very creative. Please tell them all that we love them and wish them health and happiness.
Martha Gardiner (Scranton IHM)
In the name of all the sisters here in Camilla, we thank you for these beautiful bags made with your loving hands!
We are grateful to all our sisters who not only support our OSP-IHM Community and Ministry at the US-Mexico border but also advocate and pray for our migrant brothers and sisters throughout the US and Mexico.
(Monroe IHMs)
January 2026
Posada … A Daily experience for migrants and IHM Sisters at the border
The tradition of “posada” is a ritual enactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging during the nine days leading up to Christmas. At the border, “posada” takes on new meaning and is a lived experience throughout the year. Our ministry with migrants is one of welcome, encounter, and accompaniment. While we have many opportunities to share who we are and what we have, we also receive warmth, joy and spiritual strength from those we serve.
her.
by organizing canned goods for 300 families.
share a joyful moment.
*2021 border updates
* 2022 border updates
*2023 border updates
*2024 border updates
*2025 border updates
For the past several years, these four communities have made a commitment to reconnect
and envision a common future. Read more about their shared ministries.