Cindy Schlosser receives Bishop Francis award

Cindy Schlosser, originally from Edgeley, daughter of Richard and Mary Schlosser of Transfiguration Parish in Edgeley, was awarded the Bishop Francis Award by Catholic Volunteer Network (CVN) May 1 at their annual national conference in Denver, Colo. The award is bestowed on former volunteers whose lives of justice, compassion and community embody the Gospel call to love and serve. CVN chose “inspiring leaders who have dedicated their lives to justice, accompaniment, and Gospel-rooted service” for the Bishop Francis award. 

Cindy has a long history of serving Hispanic immigrants. In 2005 Cindy was a volunteer with the program St. Joseph the Worker (SJW) with the Sisters of St. Joseph. While at SJW, she served at St. Mary’s Health Clinics as a community health care educator and interpreter for uninsured persons in the Twin Cities. In 2006 she moved to El Paso, Texas where she volunteered at Annunciation House, a shelter for recently arrived migrants, accompanying the immigrants and leading “Border Awareness” education experiences for groups from around the country. 

From 2009–2015 she served as social service coordinator and legal assistant at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee project in Arizona. She contributed to a publication “What if I am picked up by ICE in Arizona; Making a Family Plan,” (A guide for immigrant parents navigating the child welfare and immigration system). Currently Cindy is a Social Worker in Aurora, Co. working with immigrants in detention.  

In Cindy’s acceptance of the award, she quoted Bishop Joseph Francis and the USCCB calling racism what it is, “a radical evil that divides the human family.” She referred to the theme of the CVN conference ‘From Service to Solidarity’ and said, “It’s simple to serve or to give and remain at a distance, especially for those of us who have privileges and protections. Serving others is part of solidarity, but on its own, without solidarity, it can leave us hollow and disconnected. Solidarity requires connection and collective action. When we are in ‘solidarity with’ rather than ‘solitary from’ the people most directly impacted by racism, we recognize our interdependence. We celebrate together and we fight like our freedom’s bound up together, because it is.” 

Quoting Bishop Francis, she said, “All people are accountable to and for each other.” 

She shared an experience she had with one of the men in detention that she has been working with for the last two years. She shared the many ways he taught her about solidarity, one lesson being that when he is able to share in solidarity with others in detention, it gives him a sense of purpose. There is reciprocity in solidarity. When she shared with him her desire to protect him, her neighbors, her daughter’s friends, he said “I just want people to know what it is like to be on this side of the table.” 

She closed with a message to all of us. She said to do what he asked of her (of all of us), “we cannot stay in our comfort zone, we must move our bodies to a different space, to listen, learn, and feel what it is like in that space and act. To live from that new connected awareness. To connect bravely, to listen and to lead with love”. 

Catholic Volunteer Network (CVN), who bestowed this honor on Cindy, fosters and promotes full-time domestic and international faith-based volunteer service opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, and skills. CVN has a strong commitment to diversity and racial justice and values Gospel-based principles, promoting social justice for all, standing in solidarity with the poor, and advocate on behalf of faith-based volunteerism. 

Catholic Volunteer Network bestows the Bishop Joseph A. Francis Award on former volunteers that have demonstrated exemplary service to their local communities. Most Reverend Joseph A. Francis, SVD served as the Episcopal Advisor for Catholic Volunteer Network from 1976 until his death in 1997 and was the principle author of Brothers and Sisters to Us, a 1979 USCCB pastoral letter on racism. Bishop Francis said of his work: “I’m trying to bring one clear message, a message that is contained in the bible and in all social teachings that every individual is entitled to basic rights.”  

Cindy’s family is so proud of her work in living out this message in solidarity that every individual is entitled to basic rights.