DCCW speakers: Helping refugees is a source of joy

Intermountain Catholic

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James C. Anderson and Karyn Anderson

SALT LAKE CITY — While the plight of refugees is severe, they have lessons to teach, according to three speakers at the 89th annual Diocesan Council of Catholic Women Convention, held April 29-30 at the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel.

Each year, in addition to the keynote speakers, those attending the convention hear from others who reflect the work of DCCW commissions.

This year, the Spirituality Commission Presentation was given by Mollie Murphy Dale, who works for the state’s Refugee Services.

In her talk, “Together We Find Joy: Building a Bridge to Success,” Dale told stories of various refugees with whom she has worked over the past 20 years, first in Minnesota and now in Utah.

“They have changed my life,” she said. “I have been able to absorb stories and experiences that are not my own but are of those who have suffered and prevailed.”

The refugees are “examples of how God is working in everyone’s lives,” and they cause her to reflect on what it means to be a Catholic woman, about the need for solidarity and dialog, and “how do I raise my kids to understand people that aren’t from the same faith that I am?”

One of the stories she told was that of one of the first refugees she encountered, a man from Liberia who was caught in the civil war there. He showed her his arms, which were marked with scars from being tied behind his back as he was marched into the forest by solders to be killed.

One of the soldiers assigned to kill him recognized him because the two of them had played soccer together. The soldier set the man free, and he made his way to Minnesota, where Dale met him.

Acknowledging that the story she had told was sad, Dale said that she also found joy in it.

“God was protecting him,” she said. “There was hardship, but there’s that joy for that young man.”

She also noted that the story shows the mysterious ways in which humans are connected, she said.

She also has learned from working with refugees that “God will always be with us, and I know God is always merciful, and I know that God has given us a resilience that most of us haven’t had to tap into yet,” she said.

The Service Commission presentation was by James C. Anderson and Karyn Anderson, who for more than four years have served humanitarian missions in the Middle East through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple spoke of their experiences helping refugees; many times they  worked in collaboration with Catholic organizations.

“Happiness depends on external things, but joy is deeply rooted in our spiritual selves,” Karyn Anderson said. “Joy comes from a place deep in your heart, and it causes us to care and be charitable and it causes us to love each other. ... Joy is an action verb. .. You have to practice being loving and compassionate.”