Date/Time
Date(s) - September 22, 2025
1:00 pm
Location
College of Health Professions Building, Room 124
All are invited to celebrate Founders Spirit Week with CLASA and discover the inspiring story of a courageous and compassionate Sister of Mercy who supports immigrant families.
JoAnn Persch, RSM, is the founder of Catherine’s Caring Cause. She will tell her story in her talk titled “Journeying Together: Exploring Mercy Values” on Monday, Sept. 22, at 1 p.m. inside the Health Professions Facility, Room 124.
Sr. JoAnn will reflect on her journey of compassion and service supporting immigrant families in need within her Chicago community. She shares her passion for “love in action,” which combines direct service with social change. Meeting and caring for torture survivors, she became involved with the Interfaith Center for Detained Immigrants and visited and counseled detainees in four centers and jails. When busloads of asylum seekers began to arrive in Chicago from Texas in June 2022, she (with the help of Sr. Pat Murphy, recently deceased) began taking in families and founded Catherine’s Caring Cause, which is now a 501(c)(3) organization that houses over 40 families. She’ll talk about how her faith sustains and guides her in this work of mercy.
Following the talk, Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy Gail Presbey and Professor of Physics Prasad Venugopal will join Sr. JoAnn at a roundtable discussion on the issue of immigration from the perspective of the Mercy social concerns.
For those who missed the 1 p.m. presentation, Sr. JoAnn will repeat her talk at 4 p.m. in Chemistry Building, Room 114.
With questions or for more information, please email Gail Presbey at presbegm@udmercy.edu.
Add to: Outlook Calendar (ics) | Google Calendar