A mission born from an immigrant journey

Sister María de Jesús Herrera Cepeda, a Missionary Daughter of the Purest Virgin Mary, uses her personal history as a migrant to serve immigrant and migrant communities. Having lived in the United States for 19 years, she draws on her childhood observations of her father traveling from Durango, Mexico, to California for work to connect with those seeking better opportunities.

Sister María described facing discrimination and isolation when she first arrived in the United States to study. She noted that she struggled to communicate because she did not speak English and felt overlooked by Spanish speakers because her physical appearance did not clearly identify her as Hispanic. She said these experiences helped her understand the difficulty of finding safe spaces for people arriving in a new country.