Migrant Initiatives

Migrant Ministry

CATHOLIC PARISHES OF OAK PARK MIGRANT MINISTRY

The Migrant Ministry is an interfaith effort sponsored by the Catholic Parishes of Oak Park to address the needs of our migrant brothers and sisters. Powered entirely by volunteers, the ministry welcomes asylum seekers living in Chicago shelters and elsewhere on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to select from donated clothing, shoes, blankets, sheets, and toiletries. The ministry also provides breakfast and access to social services, health care, spiritual accompaniment, and immigration support. ESL classes are held three times a week. The Migrant Ministry has also resettled 11 migrant families and 2 single men, accompanying them and helping them to navigate life in the United States.

For more information, contact us at [email protected]

Monetary donations are most welcome to support the various ministries below. Please send donations to Ascension and St. Edmund Parish, 808 S. East Avenue Oak Park, IL 60304. Please include a note that the donation is for the “Migrant Fund.”

Thank you for your prayers and support of our asylum-seeking brothers and sisters. For more information, contact Celine Woznica or Margie Rudnik at [email protected]

The Intercultural Immigration Ministry

*adapted from Pastoral Orientations On Intercultural Migrant Ministry
https://migrants-refugees.va/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/POIMM-EN-Legal-stampa-1.pdf

VISION
The Intercultural Immigration Ministry is grounded in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions to welcome the stranger in our community and provide accompaniment to our immigrant brothers and sisters fleeing violence, persecution, climate catastrophes, and other life-threatening conditions.

MISSION
The Intercultural Immigration Ministry seeks to engage the Catholic community of Ascension-St. Edmund parish to welcome, protect, promote and integrate our immigrant & refugee brothers and sisters, building the Kingdom of God in fraternity and universality creating opportunities to work together towards communion.

Learn about the Goals, their Partners and Initiatives in the document below:

IIM-short version - New Version

Praying at ICE

Rosary at Broadview – in person and Online
Fridays at 7:15 am

The Rosary prayer is conducted every Friday for our immigrant sisters and brothers in detention, deportation and their families is continuing at 7:15 a.m. A prayerful presence prays at ICE location 1930 Beach Street and a larger portion via Zoom. The Rosary is led by Sisters JoAnn Persch, RSM and Pat Murphy, RSM. Please feel free to connect beginning at 7:00 AM. Whenever possible, the online community will be connected and pray together with the group at Broadview.

BY VIDEO (note: the same link is used each week):
Click this link to join the Rosary via Zoom video. Or click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83127670921?pwd=aHBRVStiUWxPUWxadjRqQkRXK3A4UT09 (First time Zoom users should visit www.zoom.us to download the Zoom app, open a free account, and to find instructions.)

BY PHONE:
Dial 1-312-626-6799 to join the Rosary only by phone.
The Meeting ID is 831 2767 0921 and Meeting Password is 321321321

To contact a parishioner involved in this ministry, please reach out to John Owens at [email protected] or 708 846-1827

Every Friday, for over 12 years, one or more Ascension parishioners have gathered with others in prayer outside the ICE Detention Center in Broadview. Our prayer is always for a more compassionate federal immigration policy.

Pat & Charlaine McAnany, 2 "regulars" praying at ICE. More than two dozen representatives from 13 dioceses around the United States joined regulars from the Archdiocese of Chicago outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in Broadview to pray the rosary July 12.

Parishioners Bob Kutella, Charlaine & Pat McAnany, John Owens

Follow this link to a Chicago Catholic article about a national training for immigrant ministry, which included praying with the "regulars" at ICE Broadview detention center.