Maryknoll sister a pioneer for immigrants

As an immigrant from the Philippines, Sister Rosalinda Barrozo was a perfect fit as a social worker in 1974 for retired Filipino plantation workers, many of whom were trying to bring their families in the Philippines to be with them in Hawaii.

She spoke three major Filipino dialects and helped them fill out reams of paperwork for their relatives to emigrate, helped them understand their confusing medical bills and counseled them on problems they encountered.

“They were considered illiterate,” she said.

Most of the old laborers had endured substandard conditions and held other part-time jobs to support their families back home and to send their children to school, she added.

But most important, the Catholic sister could empathize with the “agony of being separated from their families,” because she left her own family behind. It took several years, or sometimes up to 20, before their petitions were approved, so her deepest satisfaction came when they were finally reunited, said Barrozo, 80.

It was her first assignment in the 43 years of working with the Maryknoll Sisters, whose 90-year history in the islands is distinguished by pioneering contributions in education, social work, peace and justice. The Sisters celebrated their anniversary Saturday at the Maryknoll School Community Hall in Honolulu, and are attending their Asia East World Section conference through Tuesday at the St. Stephen Diocesan Center.

The Sisters originally were invited in 1927 to teach in the islands, and started auspiciously by founding Maryknoll School that year. By the 1930s they headed seven Catholic elementary schools, and in the mid-1940s were professional social workers for what was to become Catholic Charities Hawaii.

The agency was one of the first in the nation to use religious women as certified social workers. Since 1927 almost 400 Sisters have served in Hawaii.

Today there are 12; most of them are retired but still active volunteers in the community, according to Catholic diocese spokesman Patrick Downes.

Barrozo was an immigration case manager with Catholic Charities for 20 years, during which time she also helped streams of refugees from Vietnam and Mexico, and anyone who came to the agency. She assisted families with the difficulties of adjusting to a different world.

Barrozo shakes her head while commenting on the government’s highly restrictive immigration and refugee policies.

“We’re all immigrants in a way; we’re all in the same boat,” she said.

Barrozo later served as a parish pastoral associate, retiring in 2004. But she is still “deeply involved” with the spiritual and social needs of Filipinos as director of the Diocesan Congress of Filipino Catholic Clubs, among others.

“When I first came I could feel it — they (Filipinos) were treated as second-class citizens” in society as well as in the Catholic Church. She said they were never invited to read the Scripture, serve Communion or perform any other duties at the altar, but just allowed to “clean the church and the yard.”

The Filipinos were “scared and embarrassed because of their — I should say ‘our’ — accents,” said Barrozo, referring to her own. Over the years she held many leadership seminars to teach them to become lay ministers — “I’m so proud because they’re up there (at the altar) right now.”

Barrozo also came to Hawaii with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and an intrinsic love for nature. She’s shared her passion in Maryknoll’s “One Earth Community,” dedicated to carrying out Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical of caring for the earth, “Laudato Si.” Since the 1970s she has been recycling paper of all kinds — even discarded photographs — and turning them into art objects as a hobby. “I create something beautiful from throwaways.”

She has folded many thousands of paper rectangles, using a basic origami shape as building blocks that she glues into artistic shapes. She has held how-to classes, and gives away her creations as gifts.

“Prayers go with every folding (of paper) for the person I’m giving it to,” she said.