Migrant Ministry -
Catholic Communities of Oak Park and Neighbors
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The Ascension and St. Edmund Parish and the St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy and St. Giles Parish have partnered to form an organization that is called 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 twice a week. The Migrant Ministry has also resettled migrant families, accompanying them and helping them to navigate life in the United States.
The Migrant Ministry was created in June 2023 to respond to a humanitarian crisis in our area by providing food, clothing, and showers to asylum seekers who arrived in Chicago with very little. The Migrant Ministry began in the St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Rectory, and since January 2024 is housed at St. Edmund School (now St. Edmund Center) located at 200 S. Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park, IL 60302.
The Migrant Ministry is led by Celine and Don Woznica, Margie Rudnik, and a leadership team of volunteers - For more information, please contact Margie Rudnik at ([email protected]) or Celine Woznica ([email protected]).
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Ministry Update - August 29, 2025
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Back to School Time - There’s nothing like the smell of newly sharpened pencils, the perfect points of new crayons, and stiffness of new notebooks as children collect supplies for a new school year. And so, it was for the migrant children who came to Centro San Edmundo recently for a Back-to-School Carnival organized by the North Berwyn Girl Scouts and the distribution of school supplies made possible by generous donors including Old Saint Pats and the First Congregational Church of LaGrange.
Children picked a backpack in their favorite color, and then augmented the basic school supplies already in the backpack with their specific needs according to their grade level. Then onto the carnival where the Girl Scouts had organized various floor games and distributed lots and lots of prizes. The children were very happy and the Scouts pleased with the immense success of the carnival, an activity they created and carried out as part of their Silver Award requirements, the highest award in Girl Scouts. Thank you, donors and Girl Scouts!
Pivoting has been our hallmark in the Migrant Ministry. Services in the Saint Edmund school building will end on October 9 and will move to another space. Until further notice, we will pause donations on Monday, September 15. Immigration and ESL will move across the street to Murphy Hall, and we are still seeking a location for the “free stores.”
Our work would not be possible without the volunteers and your generous donations.
Please continue to pray for our beloved migrant brothers and sisters.
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Amazon Wish List - Volunteers - Monetary Donations
Most Needed as of August 31, 2025
WE ARE NOW COLLECTING WINTER CLOTHING - Please see the updated Amazon Wish List below! - Items can be dropped off only on Mondays between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM at Centro San Edmundo (the former Saint Edmund School), 200 S. Oak Park Avenue - Use the Pleasant Street door.
> Amazon Wish List
For more information, email [email protected].Volunteers Needed!
Please Consider Volunteering for this Vital and Joyous Ministry! – The Migrant Ministry would not be possible without volunteers and your generous donations. We are in great need of volunteers as many of our regular volunteers head south for the winter. We also need volunteers to be mentors to our resettled families.
For more information, email [email protected].Monetary Donations
To donate online through GiveCentral use the link below OR send donations to Saint Catherine-Saint Lucy and Saint Giles Parish, 1025 Columbian, Oak Park, IL 60302. Include a note that the donation is for the “Migrant Ministry”. Thank you for your generous hearts!
> Donate Online
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Thursday, October 9, 2025 - 7:00 PM
Assumption Parish, 323 West Illinois Street, Chicago, IL 60654
Join us for the third evening in our inspiring series of presentations exploring the spirituality and theology of welcoming marginalized persons in our midst.
Presenter - Steven Millies, Ph.D. - Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
Steven Millies is a scholar whose work explores the Catholic Church’s relationship with politics through an interdisciplinary lens that includes theology, history, ethics, sociology, and political theory. Responding to Pope Francis’s call for a more integral and compassionate politics, Millies emphasizes our shared responsibility for one another and the world. He holds a doctorate in political theory from The Catholic University of America and previously served as the Strom Thurmond Endowed Chair in Political Science at the University of South Carolina Aiken. Now at Catholic Theological Union, he is the author of Joseph Bernardin: Seeking Common Ground, which won a Catholic Press Association award. He contributes regularly to national publications and is active in several scholarly societies. Millies is at work on his fourth book, a Catholic theological reflection on constitutional government, under the working title – A House for All Peoples: Roman Catholicism and the Modern Constitutional State.
No registration is needed for in person attendance - To view the livestream, visit bit.ly/45AW690 - For more information or questions, contact Mary Lou Matheke at [email protected] or (312) 534-8054.
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Previous Migrant Ministry Updates
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August 24
We have been slowing the resettling of families for a few weeks primarily because the future is so unknown... Our fundraising has slowed and our mentors have grown weary... Services in the Saint Edmund school building will end on October 9 and will move to another space. The last day for donations will be on September 15...Read More -
August 17
When the Migrant Ministry team began nearly three years ago and we prepared to resettle our first migrant family, little did we know how much the effort would transform us. Jorge Borrayo’s funeral held at Saint Edmund Church on August 5 revealed to us how broad and profound that transformation has been...Read More -
August 10
The Migrant Ministry Advisory Committee has decided that Thursday, October 9, will be the final day for the Tuesday-Thursday Migrant Ministry Mornings. We are currently seeking places that might house this amazing program moving forward... We are developing a schedule for continuing donations to the program...Read More -
August 3
A Beloved Community has formed among the volunteers and migrants of the Migrant Ministry... We mourn our beloved Jorge Borrayo... Jorge was seriously injured in a terrible car accident and did not survive... A small memorial altar has been set up in Centro San Edmundo...Read More
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VIDEO - What Our Migrant Ministry Is About!
How St. Edmund Center in Oak Park provides services for migrants!
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VIDEO - Concert to Support our Migrant Ministry
Excerpts / Clips from "La Fe Mueve Montañas" Concert on February 27, 2024
This video was created by the Archdiocese of Chicago - "La Hora Católica: Misa y Más" aired on March 10, 2024
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As asylum-seekers arrived in Chicago from Latin America over the past year, a public conversation about the mobilization of city services and marshaling of private sector resources began. In Firsthand: Homeless – The Migrant Experience, WTTW explores the complicated migrant experience through the eyes of five individuals who reveal why they left their home countries, their perilous journeys across continents, and the political forces that have shaped their new lives in Chicago as they search for housing, jobs, and education.
AN EXAMPLE FROM THE DISCUSSION GUIDE LINKED ABOVE – Esteban sought help at St. Edmund’s Church when he arrived in Chicago. “I felt serene emotionally and much better spiritually. They made me feel good. It was like being welcomed to a beautiful place, where one feels loved, a spiritual warmth.” – Belonging is a powerful feeling. How do you think St. Edmund’s helped Esteban feel part of the community? – What role do religious institutions play in meeting the many needs of migrants?
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