We are always in a state of growth. Something I deeply appreciate about the Saints is that they provide us with models of how we might be drawn to holiness ever more in our human journey. 

One Saint (to-be) who deeply inspires me is Dorothy Day. She understood the Christian response to injustice on both a practical and systemic way that I find truly profound. Her prophetic posture also troubles me, knowing that I'm not quite there yet. No matter what good I/we do, she would see the bigger picture and ask "what more can we do?" 

Dorothy Day had a way of being blunt and chillingly to the point. Her summation of the last judgement in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25 always gives me pause. She distills the whole drama into a simple phrase, "I love God as much as the person I love the least." Wow! That's putting it rather plainly. 

I think of her as I think of the crisis happening in our city with over 20,000 asylum seekers who have ended up in Chicago. It hasn't been infrequent that parishioners engage staff around the parish with the question, "What are we doing?" (Fr. Sergio wrote an extended response to this in the October 29 bulletin.)

For my part, I admit that my own response when parishioners ask me about the crisis to be honest but also a bit shallow. I tend to sketch out the numerous things that we are doing in the parish for many different groups and ask, "Should we stop our support for mostly African refugees to help Central-American refugees?" or "We did have a collection for Catholic Charities or for Catholic Relief Services which is doing some of that work."

But as I discuss these issues with other parishioners, I find that it does relieve some of the panic that is out there. When people don't know how much the Catholic Church is doing to support the crisis, they may dismiss the Church as unresponsive. 

Archbishop Cardinal Cupich recognized this disparity this past week and sent an internal letter to Archdiocesan personnel to remind us about the significant work that we are doing as a Church, especially through Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The Archbishop invited us to share the following with you:

Since the fall of 2022, we have been working closely with parishes, community partners, the State of Illinois, and City of Chicago to respond with compassion to new arrivals.  In addition to the Archdiocese’s Welcome the Stranger program, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago (CCAC) has been asked by the Illinois Department of Human Services to join the State’s initiative to transition families out of shelters into stable housing. I have personally met with city officials to assure them of our willingness to be of service and partner with them, but also to offer concrete proposals on how best to achieve those goals.  

You should also know that City of Chicago, county, and state representatives have repeatedly toured archdiocesan properties that could be used as temporary housing for asylum seekers. Many of these are former parish facilities. Those officials continue to work with us to determine which locations are appropriate for this purpose and to remove administrative barriers to their use. 

Additionally, the following information can be shared with your parish communities to give them an idea of the scope of our efforts in the face of increasing need:

• All of the persons, who came through Chicago’s new arrivals hub, starting in August 2022, were welcomed by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago (CCAC) team members.

• CCAC has assisted with the long-term resettlement of more than 8000 migrants, since August 2022, including:

  • 2200 migrants arriving to Chicago have been reunited with loved ones in other states;

  • 2,000 migrants in State of Illinois shelters who have moved into apartments since January 2023; and,

  • 4100 migrants in City of Chicago shelters who have been moved into apartments since April 2023.

• CCAC’s long-term resettlement work continues at a rate of more than 1000 persons per month.

• In addition, CCAC social workers and staff, together with the AOC and parishioners from many parishes are accompanying families in their resettlement and integration into new communities;

  • 58 migrant families are currently part of the CCAC Parish Family Sponsorship Program for accompaniment; and

  • We estimate that another 30-40 families are being independently accompanied by various parishes.

• More than 200 new arrivals are joining community suppers nightly in the city and suburbs, conducted by CCAC in partnership with local parishes and supported by volunteers.

• The AOC's Immigration Ministry, and many of our parishes, have joined other volunteers in visiting police stations to offer accompaniment to the migrant families who are sleeping in the stations (e.g., providing meals and clothing, spiritual and personal accompaniment, translation services).

So in brief. We are doing a lot and will continue to do a lot.  But maybe it doesn't feel that way. There's a reason for that and it is why I began this letter talking about Dorothy Day. 

Dorothy understood something about our tendency to handle issues of injustice through bureaucratic institutions. First of all, it's necessary. There is no way that we can handle the complexity of poverty, migration, and injustice without collaboration between government and organized charitable institutions - a bureaucratic response. When you hear about the second collections we take for Catholic Charities, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (next week), and Catholic Relief Services (in the Archdiocesan Catholic Appeal in February), please be generous! The funds raised in these appeals are what is being used to address the human crisis in our city right now. These issue can't possibly be handled by each of us personally. 

But Dorothy also understood why we sometimes feel thirsty even after supporting charitable activity through institutional responses. It's because it divorces us from our personal responsibility to care for one another. Dorothy Day promoted a response to poverty she termed "personalism. This meant that in a Church fully transformed, individuals who had adequate means needed to personally know someone who didn't. Only through the personal relationship would the more institutional responses begin to make sense. 

We're always growing right? We never have it all figured out. For many in our parish, right now the way they can best respond to the migrants who need our help is to donate a coat from their closet. For others, it's offering a sandwich or meal to a family at the police station. Others will be drawn toward writing the check that funds many of the charitable campaigns listed above. Still others may be looking for organized ways to support migrants through efforts to establish sustainable housing or the ability to offer migrants work to do to support themselves. As a parish, what would it look like for a group of families, let's say 12 families, to take responsibility for a migrant family's housing and food for a year? What would it look like for the skilled and influential members of our community to help ease the red tape that prevents migrants from being able to work? What if every parishioner had a personal relationship with a migrant family and planned their response through the relationship that they built with them? 

Just to be clear, I'm putting out all these big ideas, but I'm not even there yet. I don't have a personal relationship with a migrant family. I'm not Dorothy Day and on the menu of options above, I'm barely on some of the early steps. But the point is I'm on the journey and I'm blessed to be on this journey with many other parishioners who are on it too. We're doing what we can, which is a lot, even while we are invited to do more. We're invited to be more like the saints every day. 

As we approach the season of Thanksgiving in the week ahead, its a good time to pause and reflect on where each of us are on our journey to holiness and what our next steps might be. 

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