CBS Students Living and Leading in God's Word

Exceptional gratitude is what I hear when I listen to Sr. Doretta D'Albero, ASCJ talk about her ministry. Hers is the kind of gratitude which recognizes that when we give of ourselves, Christ multiplies our gift beyond measure, so that we receive back far more than we could ever hope to give.

Sr. Doretta, a religious of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, will be graduating from the Catholic Biblical School on June 23, 2013 with a Certificate in Advanced Biblical Studies. She serves the community of New Haven as an accredited Board of Immigration Appeals representative at Apostle Immigrant Services (AIS), a non-profit immigration agency in Fair Haven, where they serve mostly low income immigrants. The agency is sponsored by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and is operated by two nuns, one of whom is a lawyer.

In addition to immigrants who come to AIS for services such as obtaining Green Cards and citizenship, AIS also obtains deferred action and work authorization for many young people who dream to pursue higher education and use their talents in the work place. In the past year, they have seen a great number of refugees and persons seeking asylum.

Sr. Doretta talks openly about how she is moved by the stories of courage and hope that she hears in the course of her work. "How often," she points out, "While watching the news, have I wished to do something for suffering peoples halfway around the world. Now they walk into my office, asking for help with the intricacies of the legal and immigration system, and I gratefully oblige. It really brings home the biblical exhortation to welcome the stranger and care for their needs."

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.

 (MT 25:35-36, New American Bible Revised Edition)