Holy trouble: The Sisters of Charity versus President Trump
We arrive at the Delaney Hall Detention Centre in Newark, New Jersey, on a hot 33-degree day.
There is no greenery to soften the sweltering heat, bar one straggly tree near the entrance.
In these back blocks of Newark's industrial area, large semi-trailers roar past at regular intervals, tooting their horns in loud blasts.
Inside the 'radical hospitality tent' outside Delaney Hall, an ICE detention centre in Newark, New Jersey. (Compass: Suzanne Smith)
Approximately 800 immigrants, picked up by ICE, the US border control police, are imprisoned inside Delaney Hall, many removed from their children who were born in the United States.
Outside are several groups of protesters who take part in daily vigils, chanting and praying, knowing the inmates inside can hear them through the perimeter fence.
Just near the entrance is a white tent covered in protest signs and colourful flags. It is the 'radical hospitality tent' where nuns, priests and activists from all over New Jersey come to provide comfort, food and toys for the families who are visiting their loved ones inside.
Members of this inter-faith coalition include the Sisters of Charity in New York.
Sister Donna Dodge, president of the Sisters of Charity of New York, is part of an inter-faith coalition offering support to nearly 800 immigrants held in detention by ICE and their families. (Compass: John Biggins)
Sister Donna Dodge recently visited the centre.
"Well, at the detention centre there were lines of police people and probably ICE holding guns, preventing people from going any farther," she said.
"So the presence of military-like police people was off-putting, and I can't imagine what it's like even for the families to see that."
When MAGA and pro-ICE protesters turned up that same day, she was shocked by their behaviour.
"These were pro-ICE people and big flags flying and on the flag were pictures of people who had been shot in the head in Minnesota and they were beeping their horns and celebrating the fact that people had been shot by ICE in Minnesota," she said.
"I just found it not only scary, I mean they weren't after us or anything, but I just wondered how do you dialogue with people who have so much hate for the other?"
Sister Susan Francois of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peace calls for greater public awareness of detainees' human stories, saying the cruelty inside is "meant to break their spirits". (Compass: John Biggins)
Also protesting outside Delaney Detention Centre are the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peace. Sister Susan Francois says one immigrant was held in solitary confinement here for five months.
"He was in solitary because he needed crutches to walk and that was considered a weapon, and so they kept him in a room," she said.
"Someone who had stage four lung cancer, terminal illness, wanted to go home and die. I think the cruelty, I don't know why other than the fact that it's to break their spirits. There is no explanation for it. It is evil."
Sister Susan believes this lack of empathy for asylum seekers is a worldwide phenomenon.
"We aren't going to reform MAGA and One Nation. So if we can get more people … to know the human stories that are happening, more people to see the tears in a child's face who's been torn away from their mother, I can only hope that it'll move people into understanding not only that it's wrong but that we have to do something."
The headquarters of the Sisters of Charity in New York is only a 40-minute drive from Delaney Hall, so some of the sisters take part in protests and prayer vigils on a regular basis.
They also help fund US passports for the children left behind after their parents are detained by ICE. This allows the children to stay in the US with other family members.
But these nuns have been politically active for decades. Their first protest action was in 1965 in Harlem over voting rights for black Americans. Soon after, seven sisters were arrested during the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations when they lay on the floor of the aisle in St Patrick's Cathedral.
The police dragged them out.
Sister Mary McCormick and the Sisters of Charity consider themselves holy trouble makers. (Supplied: Sisters of Charity/James Rowe)
Recently, they have taken part in the NO KINGS rallies against Donald Trump along with thousands of other Americans.
They refer to protests as 'Holy Trouble'.
With the mid-term elections looming in November, the number of raids and arrests by ICE has increased. Deportations are on the rise.
The order has protested for decades — from 1965 civil rights marches in Harlem to arrests during Vietnam war demonstrations — and now joins rallies against ICE detentions and deportations. (Supplied: Sisters of Charity/James Rowe)
Compass interviewed Sister Kathleen Byrnes during an anti-ICE rally in New York City, protesting the deaths of more than 73 immigrants who have perished in ICE custody.
"It's important for me to be here because I want to stand up against the abuse of human rights, the abuse of people who might not be able to vote. And all of that is in process now and it doesn't look too good."
Sister Donna Dodge says her order is determined to speak out as much as they can. I asked her what she thought of the current Trump administration:
"Horrendous, dictatorial, cruel, only wanting power and money," she replied.
"It's all against the gospel as far as I'm concerned … I have the biggest problem with the Christians and people of other faiths in Congress who are not standing up to what they should know is the right thing because of fear."
The final days
The Sisters of Charity in New York have vowed to make the plight of vulnerable immigrants and their children part of their final mission before the order closes or comes to 'fulfilment' as they call it.
In 2023, they made the bold decision to close because they hadn't received any vocations or recruits in the last 25 years.
There are now just 123 sisters left, and the average age is 86. They first moved to Manhattan in 1817 and their founder — Elizabeth Ann Seton — is America's first-born saint.
The Sisters of Charity of New York will transfer the University of Mount Saint Vincent, the college they founded, as the order approaches its final "fulfilment". (Compass: John Biggins)
In 1857, they moved to a 75-acre estate in The Bronx on the Hudson River. This property is under a land trust and will be given to the University of Mount Saint Vincent — a college the sisters founded and currently help fund to the tune of $40 million a year.
The convent is on the same property. The estate is so large that its president, Sister Donna, likes to traverse it in a golf buggy.
The many other ministries — from a farm producing tonnes of food for the needy to social housing blocks in Manhattan — are now part of a plan to transfer much of it to the lay people in the community to ensure they continue on after the Sisters are gone.
Sister Donna says there was no other option for the order but to close.
"The writing was on the wall … so is it fair for anybody that came now to come to an order where they would be living with their grandmother? Not that that's bad, but it's not a healthy kind of thing and would we even have anybody to walk with them on the journey for formation to become a sister?"
Sister Donna says their work has always been rooted in faith — "it's God's work", — even as the congregation now prepares to close after more than 200 years of service. (Supplied: Sisters of Charity/James Rowe)
Sister Donna has watched 94 of her fellow sisters die, but she isn't sad about the next stage in the journey.
"We've had a good life. We've had over 200 years, coming on 210 years of being able to serve the people, especially in New York but other places too. So if you have hope, it's not sad … don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened, because we have a lot of good stories and a lot of good memories."
Watch Holy Trouble on Compass tonight at 6:30pm on ABC TV or stream now on iview.
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