Marilyn Lacey is the founder and executive director of

Mercy Beyond Borders {{Infobox Organization , name = Mercy Beyond Borders , image = , caption = , map = , msize = (map size, optional, default 200px) , mcaption = , abbreviation = MBB , formation = 2008 , type = Non ...

, a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that partners with displaced women and children overseas to alleviate their poverty. A California native, Lacey has been a

Sister of Mercy A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

since 1966. Since 1980

Sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

Lacey has worked with refugees in the U.S., Africa, and Southeast Asia. She has dedicated her life to making the world a more welcoming place for persons forced to leave their homelands because of war or persecution. For many years she directed programs for refugees and immigrants, including the resettlement of the

Lost Boys of Sudan The Lost Boys of Sudan refers to a group of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1987–2005). Two million were killed and others were severely affected by th ...

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spi ...

in San Jose. In 2001, Lacey was honored by the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

as an "Unsung Hero of Compassion” and in Spring 2009 Ave Maria Press released her memoir, ''This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers''. She holds a master's degree in social work from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Biography

Lacey was born on July 11, 1948, in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. After graduating from Mercy High School in Burlingame in 1966, she went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) from Russell College in Burlingame. In 1966, Lacey joined the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

and became a high school math and theology teacher. In 1979, Lacey volunteered at San Francisco International Airport, helping refugees from Southeast Asia make their connecting flights to the communities in America where they were being resettled. This in motion a career change for Lacey and thrust her into international refugee work, initially in the Lao-Thai border camps, and later in Africa. In 1984, Lacey obtained a master's degree in social work (M.S.W.) from the

. While a graduate student there, she wrote a paper discussing the shifts in U.S. refugee policies since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

; in 1987 it was published as Chapter 1 in ''People in Upheaval''. Lacey also conducted a national study of AmerAsian refugee youth, "In Our Fathers’ Land", that was published by the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

in 1986 and distributed to refugee resettlement sites nationwide. In 1985, she became Director of Refugee Services for

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. Catholic Charities provides refugee resettlement services, employment placement for newcomers, foster care for refugee minors, and legal assistance to immigrants. During her tenure, Catholic Charities expanded its immigration programs to include services for language and financial literacy, naturalization, family visa petitions, political asylum, deportation defense, and help to those who can not afford private legal counsel. Her office was involved in the 1986 amnesty program and provided education and public awareness regarding

Proposition 187 California Proposition 187 (also known as the ''Save Our State'' (SOS) initiative) was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal immigrants from using non-emergency health care, public ed ...

. She has also served as a member of the board of directors for Mercy Housing California and for Mercy Hospital, Bakersfield. Lacey has spent time in war-ravaged places, including the Lao-Thai border, Sudanese and Somali camps in Kenya, and with internally displaced persons in the

Eastern Equatoria Eastern Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 73,472 km². The capital is Torit. On October 1, 1972, the state was divided into Imatong and Namorunyang states and was re-established by a peace agreement signed on 22 Febr ...

region of Sudan. She has also worked with the

, helping them to resettle in the United States. In 2001 she was honored by the

as an "Unsung Hero of Compassion" for her life of service with refugees. After 21 years of working for Catholic Charities, Lacey started

in 2008; its mission is to partner with displaced women and children overseas in ways that help them move up from extreme poverty. Lacey presents to groups and schools throughout the U.S on refugee and migration issues. In 2009 Ave Maria Press published her memoir ''This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers''. In 2011, Lacey received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from

Saint Joseph's College of Maine Saint Joseph's College of Maine is a private Catholic college in Standish, Maine. It is the only Catholic college in Maine. Saint Joseph's was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1912. The college, run by a lay and religious Board of Trustees ...

. In 2017 she was the recipient of the Opus Prize from Regis University in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado, which carries with it a $1 million stipend for her work.

Works

* ''This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers''.(Ave Maria Press, 2009) * "A Case Study in International Refugee Policy: Lowland Lao Refugees" in Scott Morgan and Elizabeth Colson, eds. ''People in Upheaval''. (Staten Island, NY: Center for Migration Studies, 1987)

References

External links

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas

Public Hearing on Immigrant Integration – Marilyn Lacey Testimony
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacey, Marilyn People from San Francisco 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns Sisters of Mercy Living people 1948 births Catholics from California 21st-century American Roman Catholic nuns