
CNA Staff, Jul 28, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A group of Catholic mothers in the U.S., inspired by Catholic social teaching, is urging support for migrants in the United States through the Dorothea Project, which seeks to defend human dignity, respond to injustice, and educate others in Catholic social teaching.
Katie Holler, a Catholic mother of two, felt called to take action when she learned about the treatment migrants were receiving amid ongoing mass deportations. Turning to social media, she made several posts about the situation and quickly gathered a group of a dozen like-minded Catholic mothers.
Through online meetings, the mothers took their first action in July — launching a letter-writing campaign to U.S. bishops urging them to speak out publicly and advocate for better treatment toward migrants.
A sample letter on the group’s website written from “a concerned parishioner” says:
“In this moment of profound crisis, I respectfully urge you to stand publicly and actively in solidarity with our migrant brothers and sisters. As a shepherd of the Church, your voice carries moral authority and hope. In light of the Church’s teachings on human dignity, the preferential option for the poor, and the call to welcome the stranger, I believe now is the time for bold and courageous leadership in defense of the marginalized.”
In the two weeks since the launch of the letter campaign, more than 150 letters have been sent to 75 bishops. The group has received one response from the Indiana Catholic Conference seeking to discuss the matter more.
While the group began with only Catholic mothers, it has now expanded to include any Catholic woman interested in taking part. There are currently almost 300 women connected to the Dorothea Project.
The group found inspiration for its name from two Catholic women known for speaking out against injustices: Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman and Servant of God Dorothy Day.
Born in Canton, Mississippi, in 1937, Thea Bowman converted to Catholicism as a child inspired by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, who were teachers and pastors at Holy Child Jesus Church and School in Canton. Bowman witnessed Catholics around her caring for the poor and those in need, and this is what drew her to the Catholic Church.
At the age of 15, she told her family she wanted to join the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and became a highly acclaimed evangelizer, teacher, speaker, and writer.
As a young adult, Day was very involved in political activism. She became Catholic in 1927 and in 1933 co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which combined direct aid for the poor with nonviolent action on behalf of justice.
Day lived in voluntary poverty, advocating for workers’ rights, racial equality, and peace, even when it meant challenging both Church leaders and government policies. Always speaking up for the marginalized, she was arrested multiple times for acts of civil disobedience.
Holler told CNA that while the letter campaign has ended, “we are still helping women send letters by sharing our template on our website.”
“We are now continuing our efforts by figuring out how we can build relationships with parishes and priests for prolonged education, prayer, solidarity, and action related to issues of Catholic social teaching,” she added. “We are also beginning to work on some new campaigns focused on specific feast days. Both of these are in the beginning planning phases.”
“We’re growing fast and are very thankful to be connecting with so many women across the country who are moved by the Gospel and love of neighbor,” Holler said.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
“Migrants walk alongside the railroad tracks after dismounting from the “La Bestia” train, which they rode through Mexico to reach the Mexico-U.S. border near Chihuahua, Mexico, on Sept. 27, 2023.”
*************
It’s a fitting photo & a reminder that we contribute to the hardship, violence & extortion migrants face coming here illegally. There’s nothing wrong with securing the border to make immigration legal & safe & to take away business from the cartels who exploit these people.
This article lost me about 4 sentences in. Illegals have no rights and no claim on American resources. It might be fun to pretend we have unlimited cash to do everything each do-gooder suggests. But it must have been made abundantly clear in the last decades that we do NOT. There is not enough housing, jobs, seats in classrooms, doctors, or taxpayer money to provide free stuff for people who do not live here. But sure want to come here for the freebies they cannot attain in their own countries which are supposed to be responsible for them. By far, the majority of illegals in the US are NOT fleeing war. They are looking for jobs. OUR people’s jobs.
In an irony that the women took as their inspiration two women who were AMERICAN born. It might seem exotic to help illegals, but in truth, your fellow citizen is also your neighbor. It might have been nice if they turned their attention to our homeless veterans for example.
AS for me, my donations will NEVER go to NGO’s which advocate for breaking American laws as if it was nothing.