Recorded on March 16, 2021, history professor Dr. Cynthia Taylor, and IBEW Organizer Eileen Pierce discussed their research into the history of Dominican Sisters’ involvement in the sanctuary movement in California.  In the 1980s, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael made a corporate and public stance in support of providing sanctuary for Salvadoran refugees, fleeing civil war and violence in El Salvador.  Despite the federal government’s refusal to recognize them as refugees, these people were classified as undocumented immigrants, thus in danger of deportation.  In a time of renewed discussion of undocumented immigration and asylum, we will hear about the San Rafael Sisters’ efforts to organize in order to offer sanctuary to these families.  We will discuss the links between their research and our current reckoning over the demands of social justice for undocumented immigrants fleeing violence in Central America.

This talk highlights a chapter in the McGreal Center’s new sponsored book, Preaching with their Lives: Dominicans on Mission in the United States After 1850, and is a part of a 2021 speaker series sponsored by the McGreal Center and the Siena Center at Dominican University, highlighting recent research in Dominican history, featured in our newly released book.