We are delighted to welcome Sr. Erin McDonald, CSJ, who is the co-host of the Beyond the Habit podcast. Sr. Erin is a Sister of St. Joseph and is currently working in young adult ministry. She also has an extensive background accompanying refugees and asylum seekers. Before entering religious life, she set off for a refugee camp in Rwanda to work for Jesuit Refugee Services. Building on that experience, Sr. Erin later worked in refugee resettlement in Cleveland and case management for asylum seekers in Detroit. She expresses her deep concerns about the direction our country has moved on receiving migrants, and she shares a couple of powerful stories from her experience.

Brian and Joe talk about how migrants they have met used their own past experiences, much like Sr. Erin, to help people in need around them. Joe shares the story of Manoucheca, a young mom from Haiti who speaks fluent Spanish and has a medical background. She immediately stepped up when fellow Haitian asylum seekers needed translation and medical help. Brian talks about our friend Isis, who is being held in detention in Michigan. Isis has struggled emotionally, so Brian wrote him a letter encouraging him to use his experience living in the migrant shelter to be a light for others amid the darkness of detention.