By Mark Zimmermann
Catholic Standard, OSV News
TAKOMA PARK, Md. (OSV News) — A religious sister well-known for her decades-long work in Texas with migrants along the U.S.-Mexican border encouraged students at a Washington area high school to follow the example of Sargent Shriver, a devout Catholic who was the founding director of the Peace Corps.
“Sargent Shriver was an extraordinary person,” said Sister Norma Pimentel, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus religious order, who is executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in the Diocese of Brownsville.
She made the comments as she helped launch the Sargent Shriver Center for Faith in Action at Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Takoma Park Oct. 22.
Shriver found the presence of God in his daily life and work, and that enabled him to say “yes” to serving those in need, she said. “He was a leader that allowed himself to be led by God.”
Besides heading the Peace Corps (1961-1966), Shriver also was the architect of War on Poverty programs that began in 1964, including Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA, and Upward Bound.
“We have a responsibility to speak up and do our part. . . . That is how we make God present in our time,” said Sister Norma.
She was named as one of Time magazine’s Women of the Year for 2026 and one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2020.
Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School is a college preparatory, coed school serving students from low-income families in the Washington area that is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington and the Salesians of Don Bosco.
The school features an innovative Corporate Work Study Program, where students gain experience working at leading Washington-area businesses, organizations and institutions and help pay for part of their education costs.
Mark K. Shriver — one of five children of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics — is the first lay president of Don Bosco Cristo Rey, serving in the position since 2021.
Joel Littlepage, director of the school’s Sargent Shriver Center for Faith in Action, said the center exists to “form good people for good work in the world through Catholic faith in action as modeled in the life and legacy of Sargent Shriver.”
Sargent Shriver was “one of the most significant public servants in the history of the United States,” said Littlepage, who is also the school’s coordinator of youth ministry.
“Sarge lived out the Catholic social principle of solidarity, channeling his energy and platform to the benefit of the poor, the unrepresented, the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the disabled (and) the forgotten.”
In her talk, Sister Norma said she “came to discover my voice early” in her work as a woman religious, as her order staffed a shelter to serve the influx of immigrants from El Salvador and other Latin American nations fleeing violence and terrible conditions in their home countries.
Under Sister Norma’s leadership, the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, has provided food, shelter, clothing and other help to more than 500,000 migrants since it opened in 2014.
In a discussion with Don Bosco Cristo Rey students, Sister Norma was asked how she remained hopeful. “When I encounter families and their suffering, it motivates me,” she said, describing a visit to a detention center in 2014 that was full of hundreds of immigrant children. She sought to pray with the children, who were crying.
“I just started to cry with them. They prayed with me. . . . The agents were looking at us, crying as well,” Sister Norma said, noting how one officer said, “Thank you, Sister, you helped us realize their humanity.”
Sister Norma said people should have a responsibility to recognize the human dignity of others as a priority in their lives, which she said is more important than any policy or law.
The Time magazine article recognizing her as one of the 2026 Women of the Year noted that the Catholic Charities center is serving poor, elderly and homeless people in that community as the number of asylum-seekers has fallen “to nearly zero.”
Sister Norma said the border is effectively closed, but now with the government’s policy of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, some immigrants who have lived and worked in that area for many years have been rounded up, sent to detention centers and deported.
Catholic Charities is trying to help the family members who remain, she said. “People are very afraid. They don’t work. They’re afraid to go to the supermarkets, even to church. . . . It’s a very difficult time for the community in south Texas,” Sister Norma said.
Asked by a student how she continues to do her good work in challenging conditions, Sister Norma said, “I wake up every day at 4 in the morning. I’m not a morning person.” She starts each day in silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. “It’s so important to have the presence of God to guide me and lead me… to help make the world better,” she said.
Another student asked Sister Norma what advice she had for young people about serving others.
“You’re never too young, and you’re never too old” to serve others, Sister Norma said. She added, “No matter how young you are, God is calling us to do our part. . . . We must always turn to God to find out what that is.”
