Remembering Mercy Sister JoAnn Persch - On retirement in 2018, I knew that I wanted to spend time volunteering with an organization caring for migrants... Although, Sister JoAnn and her colleague, Sister Pat Murphy, ministered to migrants detained at the McHenry County Jail for 12 years until the Illinois Way Forward Act passed forcing the facility to cancel its contract with ICE,...

Thank you so much, Ascension and St. Edmund's Knights of Columbus and St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy and St. Giles Parish Communities, for your recent coat drives. We are so grateful for the bags and bags of men’s, women’s, and children’s coats that we received... We regret that we can no longer allow the migrants to select their coats as before...

Migrant Ministry is honored to have received the 2025 Bradford O'Neill Medallion for Social Justice from Dominican University, a Catholic Hispanic Serving institution and a leader in educating immigrants and the children of immigrants... Over the past two years, Migrant Ministry has had many opportunities to work with the students and faculty of Dominican...

One of the most urgent and valued services provided by the Migrant Ministry has been assisting migrants to complete and submit their asylum applications, work authorization, and change of court venue... it was determined that “the drastically changed legal environment” requires the experience and knowledge of an immigration lawyer to navigate...

Recently volunteers, parish staff members, and pastors of local churches gathered to bid farewell to Centro San Edmundo, and bless volunteers... Although Centro San Edmundo is closed to migrants, store rooms are available and volunteers will be filling special orders for coats and clothing until we are able to move to our new location at Boulevard Presbyterian...

Last Thursday, October 9, was our last Migrant Ministry Services day in Centro San Edmundo,... how do we meet the needs of the migrants too afraid and traumatized to leave their homes?... The free stores are paused, but our incredible volunteers are not stopping... Padre Vittorio Bruscella, CMF, recently reflected that “the word ‘Sanctuary’ no longer means a place made of bricks”...

We learned this week that one of our migrant couples are planning to get married but were waiting until they could afford to buy the bride a ring... We will miss Centro San Edmundo and recognize the impact our time there has had not only on the migrants,... We are pausing all but financial donations now, and will alert you when we can accept donations again...

The decision has been made to close the Saint Edmund School building due to the enormous cost of repairing and maintaining the beloved, but very old, structure. The last day the “free stores” and social services will be available for the migrants in the building will be Thursday, October 9. Immigration Support Services has moved to Murphy Hall and that will continue...

While not officially a part of the Migrant Ministry program many of our parishioners attend the Friday morning 7:15 AM Prayer Vigil at the Broadview Processing Center... Services in the Saint Edmund school building will end on October 9, and we hope to move to another space. Until further notice, we paused donations on Monday, September 15...

These are very difficult times with the beginning of the long-threatened surge of DHS and other federal agents to the Chicago area and the possibility of a National Guard deployment... 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...

Our Immigration Support Services (ISS) works with migrants to help them complete many applications including those for asylum and work permits, and also translates documents... The last day Migrant Ministry will receive clothing and other donations (except financial) will be Monday, September 15...

The migrant children came to Centro San Edmundo for a Back-to-School Carnival organized by the North Berwyn Girl Scouts and the distribution of school supplies made possible by generous donors,... Services in the Saint Edmund school building will end on October 9 and will move to another space...

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...

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...

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...

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...

We expected two more of our resettled families to have the final court hearings regarding their asylum case before the end of July... There are new fees for all aspects of the immigration process that are now part of the 2025/2026 tax bill... Please consider contributing to the Migrant Ministry fund again...

The Migrant Ministry attempts to meet the short- and long-term needs of our asylum-seeking brothers and sisters... One area of great need of which we can be of minimal assistance is connecting migrants with jobs... Do you have a house project you’ve been meaning to get done?...

The Migrant Ministry recently marked its 2nd Anniversary. The closed rectory of St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy was opened on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, for the migrants sleeping at the nearby Austin police station to take showers... Now we are facing a pivotal moment...

Resettled Families - The Housing portion of Migrant Ministry is proud to announce that in the past two years we have resettled 22 families (#23 will be resettled this summer)... Cost of $15,000 to resettle each family... Can you please donate toward this effort?