S5E4: “Broadening Horizons” with Annie Leone, a nurse midwife at the Holy Family Birth Center

The Jesuit Border Podcast

We are thrilled to welcome Annie Leone, who is a nurse midwife at the Holy Family Birth Center and a care provider at the clinic at the Humanitarian Respite Center (HRC) run by Catholic Charities. Annie gives a helpful background on midwifery (including how to pronounce that word!), and she describes the birthing center and its origin story. She also shares from her years of experience attending pregnant women at the clinic at the HRC, including the many accounts of partners getting separated by U.S. immigration and stories of the trauma and violence encountered at home and on the journey.

Brian and Joe reflect on how their horizons have broadened from their ministry on the border. Joe talks about how drastically his perceptions of migrants have changed after his first few months on the border, including meeting William, a political refugee from Venezuela who went out of his way to care for others. Brian shares a privileged moment of being welcomed into the sacred space of a preteen girl’s farewell party at Casa del Migrante. It might be hard to believe, but it all started with a shared love for…mathematics.