Joanne Welter: The Border’s “Persistent Woman”

By Jeffry Odell Korgen and Jeanette Arnquist

The late Monsignor Phillip J. Murnion, founder of the National Pastoral Life Center, used to call Joanne Welter “The Persistent Woman” after a character in one of Jesus’ parables, who repeatedly approached an unjust judge, petitioning for justice (Luke 18:1-8). For years, Joanne had asked Phil to sponsor a National Border Conference through the NPLC’s Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors. Like the unjust judge, Phil eventually agreed, perhaps more to make her stop calling than anything else.

The result of Joanne’s advocacy was a historic 2005 Border Conference, “Crossing the Borders of Trade” that drew over 100 diocesan social action directors and staff, a couple dozen staff from national Catholic organizations like Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and a handful of bishops. We learned Joanne had been persistent with them too. But there was a reason for her urgency. The United States Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Hold the Line, unknown to many of us, had been funneling desperate migrants through the Sonoran Desert, sending many of them to excruciating, anonymous deaths. For Joanne, Tucson’s diocesan social action and respect life director from 1994 to 2014, this crisis was not an economic one, but an affront to human life and dignity.

Most Church conferences result in a few good conversations and a small number of takeaways from somewhat useful workshops. Joanne’s genius was a “come and see” approach that had us visiting smuggling routes, touring maquiladoras, and dining with undocumented migrants living in colonias. “Crossing the Borders of Trade” had impacts that still reverberate today. Catholic Relief Services established a CRS-Mexico office in Tucson. Bishop Joseph Pepe created an immersion experience for all the priests of the Diocese of Las Vegas that replicated Joanne’s agenda. And we returned to far-flung states as highly committed advocates for Border justice, despite our previous hardness of hearts (including Phil). We just needed to “come and see.”

Joanne was someone who could connect with almost anyone, sharing joys, challenges, and a passion for social justice, human life, and human dignity. She took great pride in the Diocese of Winona repurposing “my old room” from her days as a Franciscan sister into its Office for Justice and Peace. Her colleagues at the Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors ultimately honored her for that love—and her concrete accomplishments—with their Servant of Justice Award in 2010. Former Roundtable Chair George Horton of the Archdiocese of New York, who traveled with Joanne to Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda on Catholic Relief Services business, remembered Joanne as “a true laborer in God’s vineyard. She understood putting people first—but never herself.” We can only imagine her up in heaven now petitioning God on our behalf. We pray for her continued persistence.

Thank you, Joanne for a life well-lived for others. Pray for us, holy woman of God.