For Sister Norma Pimentel, delivering the inaugural Bishop Kevin Birmingham Lecture offered a chance to bring together her work with migrants at the border with her work as an artist.

The event, sponsored by the Illinois Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums and Holy Name Cathedral, was held at the cathedral  on April 15.

Sister Norma, a religious sister of the Missionaries of Jesus, is executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. She has received international attention for her work with migrants, including from Pope Francis.

The lecture series she kicked off was named after Bishop Birmingham, who served as the cardinal’s representative to the Illinois Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums before his death on Oct. 2, 2023.

Sister Norma has been on the front lines of supporting migrants seeking refuge in the United States along Texas’ border with Mexico for three decades. She is also a painter with a degree in art from Pan American University. 

During the event, in front of a backdrop of several of her paintings of migrants she has met at the border, Sister Norma shared stories of her ministry to migrants and how she ended up as a woman religious and not a full-time artist.

“This is a truly historic moment in my life because art has been a part of me since I can remember,” she said.

It was always her plan to earn a living through her art, but God had another plan, she said.

“He wanted something different from me, so I completely took a 180 degree different direction in my life and I joined the convent. I don’t know where that came from, but it had to be God,” she said, making many in the crowd laugh.

She shared her journey of attending a charismatic prayer group with a friend, which led to a deepening of her faith. When she entered religious life, Sister Norma willingly put aside her art to accompany migrants coming to the United States across the border from Mexico.

“It is what God has called us to do tend to his people,” she said.

Her community was already ministering to men, women and children at the border when Sister Norma joined in the 1980s. They also advocated for the migrants with local governments and officials. That led to her arrest for an act of civil disobedience in her 20s.

“Boy, was that a life-changing experience. I was faced with my true self,” she said.

She questioned what she stood for, who she was and whether she was really willing to stand up for God’s people.

“We’re called to do that. We’re called to not hold back the love that God gives us when we encounter him and when he becomes part of our lives. That love is there to share and to care for others, especially those who most need us,” Sister Norma said.

That call is more important than ever today, when there is so much hatred and suffering, she said.

“People have to migrate and leave their country because it’s impossible to stay where they are because of all the dangers. We see it happening more and more and more,” Sister Norma said. “And yet the doors of our country are closed because the doors of our hearts are also closed. Because we allow ourselves to be manipulated to believe that it is not our responsibility to tend to God’s people.”

God is present in the encounters with the people at the border, she said, who are vulnerable and afraid and just want a chance at life.

“It is in that encounter that we have the opportunity to give of ourselves in loving others the way God loves us,” she said. “I tell seminarians, I tell everybody, ‘Come to the border. Come and see. And all you have to do is be present. That’s all. … Just bring yourself there and God will let you know what he wants of you.’”