Page 41 - Spring 2019 Extension Magazine

Extension | Spring 2019 41

Tony and Judy Sarsam and six of
their eight children in Jerusalem

immigrant populations, they were
intrigued. “We are like Catholic
Extension,” Tony said. “From our
growing up years of connecting to
immigrant families and mission-
ary churches, to now, as we reach
out to the underserved within our
developed country. We share the
same values.”
They have seen how entre-
preneurial faith communities
become when they need a place
to worship. “As Catholics move
around, they build up the Church
themselves. They find a church or
construct one and request a priest
from the bishop,” she said. “The
Church’s expansion is from the
bottom up, not the top down. The
push is from the ground, when
people want a church.”
Seeing the gifts of migrants ignore this issue. Even in a coun- They were surprised to see how
Tony has spent his career in the try like Lebanon, which has the expansive Catholic Extension’s
food industry and is currently the GDP of South Dakota, they are work is geographically. “We didn’t
CEO of Borden Dairy in Dallas, taking in so many refugees. The know all this was happening in
Texas. He observed that the entire United States needs to be a leader the small corners of our coun-
process, from farming to distribu- and take a positive and produc- try,” said Judy. “We can’t go to
tion, relies on employees from all tive role.” all these places ourselves, but
corners of society. “The entire food Migrants not only contribute to we can support the workers in
chain is harvested by migrants,” our economy, but they also add the vineyard and give to Catholic
he said. “Even a modest disrup- depth to the Church. Immigrant Extension.”
tion in migrant labor would have communities, particularly Hispan- Since Tony and Judy have
devastating impacts on this supply ics, are enriching the faith life of learned about Catholic Exten-
chain. Our global economy relies parishes throughout the country. sion and its impact in providing
on growth and inflation.” resources to impoverished
Tony also notes the question of Responding to those in need communities in remote areas
justice. “We should be doing our When the Sarsams heard about across the country, they have
fair share,” he said. “There are 65 Catholic Extension’s work to sup- made a commitment to support
million refugees in the world now, port America’s poor parishes, its mission.
the highest ever globally. As Amer- many of which face expanding
icans, and as Catholics, we can’t