World Migrant and Refugee Day was celebrated on September 29. We, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus also wanted to celebrate this occasion in our missions around the world, where we daily care for migrants and refugees. 

In the United States several activities were held at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Colorado, the Cabrini Immigrant Services Centers, the National St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Chicago and the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in New York, while in Italy initiatives were held between Palma di Montechiaro and Codogno. 

Cabrini of Westchester

At Cabrini of Westchester (CIS-Dobbs Ferry), Mrs. Lorraine Campanelli spoke on September 23 during Mass at the nursing home about the initiatives that would be held on September 29 and some of the activities that are carried out daily at the Center in Dobbs Ferry.
Each day during the weekday Eucharistic celebration before September 29, a special intention was read during the prayer of the faithful for this very occasion. In addition, a midday prayer was prayed throughout the nursing home. Thus, a special prayer for migrants and refugees has been made every day since September 23. Following the theme of Pope Francis’ Message for the Day, “God Walks with His People,” Lorraine compared the theme to reading the Gospel on the road to Emmaus. She reminded us that we need to see the Jesus in the other. When we recognize him, we recognize ourselves as sister and brother.

Father Ron Galt, Vice President of Mission and Pastoral Care at St. Cabrini Nursing Home, prayed special intentions for migrants and refugees during the prayers of the faithful each day during Mass. In addition, a special prayer was prayed for the noon day along with the prayer for the blessing of food.
A statue of Mother Cabrini, a globe and flags of different countries were displayed in front of the altar throughout the week. It was a call to pray for all our sisters and brothers struggling to find peace, safety, and a home. The week ended with Mass on September 29, offered for all our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.

At Cabrini Immigrant Services of New York (CIS-NYC), World Migrant and Refugee Day 2024 was celebrated in advance on Friday, September 27, with staff and clients. Together they created a collage on a wall to symbolize their individual and collective journeys, stories, and experiences. Inspired by this year’s theme set forth by Pope Francis, each participant contributed photos and personal reflections on the meaning of the day and the chosen artwork. Everyone then spent the morning sharing stories and food, all in community. Sr. Yolanda Flores MSC led a prayer and discussion on how it is possible to be and remain united in God’s name. Executive Director Javier Ramirez-Baron then reflected on the meaning of the day and how it is strongly linked to their daily work, rooted in Mother Cabrini’s mission to build a world where dignity, respect, and inclusion are priorities for all.

At Mother Cabrini Shrine in Colorado on Sunday September 29, they included the message of World Migrants and Refugees Day in their three liturgies. They asked clergy to include and highlight the meaning and value of this day in their homilies, in the prayers of the faithful, and to also include a special connection to Mother Cabrini, Patroness of Immigrants. They then distributed a bilingual prayer card at the exit of the chapel and made available in the grotto of the Shrine. It is a prayer for migrants and refugees and a quote from Mother Cabrini; this is the text:

Prayer for migrants and refugees

God, Almighty Father, we are your pilgrim Church journeying towards the Kingdom of heaven.
We live in our homeland, but as if we were foreigners. Every foreign place is our home, yet every native land is foreign to us.
Though we live on earth, our true citizenship is in heaven.
Do not let us become possessive of the portion of the world you have given us as a temporary home.
Help us to keep walking, together with our migrant brothers and sisters, toward the eternal dwelling you have prepared for us.
Open our eyes and our hearts so that every encounter with those in need becomes an encounter with Jesus, your Son and our Lord.
Amen.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Patroness of Immigrants, Pray for Us!


On Saturday, September 21, 2024, the National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Chicago collaborated with the Archdiocese by hosting a viewing of the film Cabrini (2024). This was one of the Archdiocese’s three events for Migration Month. The film screening was followed by a discussion using the discussion guide created for the film by the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. The goal of the guide is to understand how the three themes of Catholic Social Teaching-Human Dignity, Solidarity and the Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable-are embodied in Mother Cabrini’s life and in the film.
Mary Lou Matheke, of the Archdiocesan Office for Human Dignity and Migration, led the lively discussion. Sr Laura Baldini, MSC, was also present at the panel. The response was very positive.
Many asked “what can I do to address the needs?”.
Participants also joined the Shrine community for the 4 p.m. vigil Mass.

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The National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Chicago

Moving instead to Italy in Palma di Montechiaro, the Archdiocese of Agrigento, in collaboration with the Centro per la Missione Servizio Migrantes, organized an event entitled “God Walks with His People” with several talks on the theme of emigration and at the conclusion a Eucharistic celebration. 

1 – The 110th World Migrant and Refugee Day was celebrated in Palma di Montechiaro on the theme “God Walks with His People.”

2 – In addition, we are pleased to inform you and share with you that, as we do every year, we also celebrate the Memory of the Inauguration of the Monument of St. Frances St. Cabrini in Palma on the same day. We are grateful to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini whom we venerate and honor with palpable joy also on this day. We honor her who is the UNIVERSAL PATRON IN PERPETUITY of all emigrants.  An honor that will commit us, as we continue our mission, to welcome our immigrant brothers and sisters to Palma and with them we hope to become “Pilgrims of Hope” in view of Jubilee 2025.

In the Archdiocese of Agrigento, the 110th World Migrant and Refugee Day was celebrated on Sunday, September 29, 2024, in Palma di Montechiaro. Promoting the initiative for having chosen Palma was the diocesan Migrants Office backed in Palma by the Saint Frances Cabrini Association supported by the MSC Institute and confirmed and mandated by Archbishop Monsignor Franco Montenegro. For this event this year we had the honor and joy of having the support of a Convention desired by the Archdiocese held in our parish. Taking part in the convention were moderator Prof. Alfonso Cacciatore, Director of the Library of the Archbishop’s Seminary of Agrigento, Grazia Messina, Director of scientific research in the Etnean Museum of Migration in Giarre, and Roberta La Cara, Director of Research and Development -Association Don Bosco 2000, a social enterprise of Enna. 
The organizers said that the intent was to focus attention on the difficulties and concerns of different categories of vulnerable people on the move, who face numerous and dangerous challenges, but at the same time to reflect on the opportunities that migration can offer. Particular attention was paid to the phenomenon of illegal hiring (Caporalato) a real human and social scourge, closely related to the exploitation of migrants. ”It was a very important moment for us of the St. Frances Cabrini Association, who have been celebrating this World Migrant and Refugee Day for so many years, striving, following the example of the Saint, to propagate and sensitize everyone to welcome and respect our brothers and sisters, and also to guarantee physical, moral and religious assistance, “Points for reflection will emerge” said Fr. Aldo Sciabbarasi, director of the Migrant Office “from the Holy Father’s message on the occasion of the 110th edition of World Migrant and Refugee Day on the theme ‘God Walks with His People.’ In this message” Fr. Aldo continued, “the Pope wanted to remind us that all of us, God’s people, are migrants on this earth, on our way to the “true Homeland,” the Kingdom of Heaven. Migrants are a contemporary icon of this people on the  journey, of the Church on the journey and, at the same time, it is precisely in them and in all our vulnerable brothers and sisters that we can encounter the Lord who walks with us. The day ended at 7 p.m. in the Mother Church of Palma di Montechiaro with the Eucharistic Celebration.
                                                             For The Association Antonietta Scopelliti MLC.

Palma di Montechiaro, Italy


On the occasion of World Day of Migrant and Refugee, a screening of the film “Francesca Cabrini” by Alejandro Monteverde was held in Codogno on Sunday, September 29, at the Cabrini Hall of the Codogno Spirituality Center. Present in the hall were many guests, several sisters including the Former Superior General, Sister Maria Barbagallo, who had previously met with the production in Codogno itself to provide them with historical sources from which to draw for the writing of the film. Sunday evening then saw the fruits of this collaborative work and rejoiced together with all present for this beautiful sharing on an important anniversary for the Institute, as well as for the whole Church.

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On Oct. 26, however, a Missionary meeting will be held at the S. F. Cabrini Spirituality Center; starting at 9:30 a.m. there will be a presentation of the new website of the association “Missione Cabriniana Oggi”, testimony from the missions, a convivial lunch, presentation of the digital museum and guided tours of the Cabrinian museum.

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