MANKATO — A winter storm had blown through Mankato the night before, but that didn’t stop 100 people from collectively praying for compassion and love for immigrants and refugees at the School Sisters of Notre Dame’s Mankato campus late Sunday afternoon.

With the sound of a bell, congregants sat in quiet reflection for 30 minutes to pray for understanding and solidarity. Sunday marked the beginning of weekly prayers supporting immigrants and refugees coming to the United States to escape hunger, poverty and violence in countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Sister Kate DuVal says she and some of her colleagues wanted to provide a space for people of all faiths and traditions in the community to come together to foster a sense of understanding.