St. Charles Borromeo Church Welcomes Migrants Bused In From Texas

By on August 31, 2022 9:56 pm in 11201, Brooklyn Heights, charity, Houses of Worship, News

On Monday, St. Charles Borromeo Church on Sidney Place welcomed 200 migrants sent by bus from Texas to the doorsteps of the Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens. According to The Tablet, Msgr. Alfred LoPinto of CCBQ said hundreds of migrants were found camping out in front of 191 Joralemon St. with letters in their hands that said the office building was their new home. The Msgr. said they were “blindsided by the whole thing,” but CCBQ quickly organized to rally around the migrants and provide them with necessities and just plain humane treatment.

As widely reported, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent an estimated 9,000 migrants by bus to Washington D.C. and New York City, so-called “sanctuary cities,” because his state ran out of room or something like that. “Everything’s bigger in Texas” so they say, but not the heart, apparently.

Msgr. LoPinto said that the migrants were told to find catholic charities in New York City, but that the charities were given no heads up. “The sad part of it is, had they given notice ahead of time, we could have been more organized and had a much better opportunity to help. But now you just kind of roll with the punches,” he said. The Msgr. added that it would have been impossible to help the migrants without volunteers, St. Charles’ pastor Father Bill Smith, and St. Vincent de Paul Society which helped with emergency funds.

At the orientation at St. Charles, Alvanys Rondon said she and her 10-year-old daughter trekked from Venezuela through the Panama jungles and “had to wade through foliage that tangled their legs and a near-constant quagmire of mud.” When they finally made it to the border in Texas, they found that their journey was far from over. “It has been a 30-plus hour bus ride up from Texas. They’re hungry. They’re confused, disoriented. It’s all terrible,” said CCBQ’s vice president Richard Slizeski.

At St. Charles, the migrants received a warm welcome to our country, legal information on seeking asylum, boxes of necessities and food, and a hot meal of chicken and rice and beans.

Photo courtesy Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens.

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  • Jorale-man

    Good post. It’s reassuring to see human decency at work in Brooklyn whereas it’s clearly in short supply in Texas. I hope the migrants can find some stability and comfort now in their new homes.

  • Alz heimers

    $85 billion for the “winning” ukrainians…..$0 for the migrants.

  • Angela De Marco

    Please contribute to CCBQ so the help can continue in this need and also at the weekly food pantry.

  • Arnold Bailey

    Well, this is exactly what we told you last week. The flood of illegals is being militantly supported by Card. Dolan and entire leadership at 1ast ave. with rare exception. Unless you ask a number of questions, Like: Have any criminal background been run? Or, what facilities will they use in our community and what local needy does that displace? or even, Have and bio safety basic tests been run on what SERIOUS communicable diseases they may positive?. Well? Have any of these people been checked for resistant Tuberculosis or the multiple forms of Hepatitis or HIV or well, any of the dozens of serious infectious agents often RAMPANT in the countries they come from? And were supposed to blithely accept all of this because?

  • T.K. Small

    I do not agree with what comes across as the angry tone of the comment immediately above, but the questions of national sovereignty, border security, and the orderly rule of law are all legitimate issues. Politicians across the board need to stop pandering…

  • Effective Presenter

    We do not interpret the comment as angry, the post brings valid issues.

    As the United States of America the issues should be resolved if there is a will there is a way.