Border of Death, Valley of Life: An Immigrant Journey of Heart and Spirit

by Daniel G. Groody

This is a powerful, first-hand account of a religious ministry that reaches out to console, heal, and build the lives of poor and desperate immigrants who come to the United States in search of a better life. Daniel G. Groody talked with immigration officials, 'coyote' smugglers, and immigrants in detention centers and those working in the fields. The picture that emerges starkly contrasts with the negative stereotypes about Mexican immigrants: Groody discovered insights into God, family, values, suffering, faith, and hope that offer a treasury of spiritual knowledge helpful to anyone, even those who are materially comfortable but spiritually empty. This book has a message that reaches across borders, divisions, and preconceptions; it reaches all the way to the heart.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Immigration

212 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2002

Reviews

[Daniel]

Read for my Latino spirituality class

[Isabella]

This is such a great book! I was able to picture every detail the author described.

[Anne]

I had the author as a professor at Notre Dame, and he's probably one of the more enlightened and interesting people I came across there (he's also quite often the object of priest-crushes...) Anyway, this very thoughtful book came out of his experiences with immigrant spirituality, specifically a retreat program in the Coachella valley in California and how it tries to reach out to immigrants whose spiritual needs are often not looked after in a new country. It's probably not a great book to pick up if you don't already know something about the issue, as a lot of it is a case study of a particular program, but it's extremely thoughtful, written from a place of deep care for the people it discusses.