Strolling out of Catholic mass at St. John XXIII parish in Evanston Thursday morning, Lois Farley Shuford expressed alarm that the parish’s two clergymen, who each got here to the US with a mission to serve the poor, may be compelled to depart the nation.
The opportunity of dropping the immigrant clergymen intensifies the fear for folks within the parish, the place about half the congregants are immigrants from Mexico. They’re going through heightened fears as they see information reviews about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seizing immigrants on the streets.
The clergymen, Rev. Koudjo Ok. Jean-Philippe Lokpo, of the west African nation of Togo, and Rev. José Manuel Ortiz, of Mexico, are right here on R1 spiritual employee visas that allow them to serve in the US. However the federal authorities is so backed up in processing paperwork that Rev. Lokpo may be compelled to depart in October, and solely an legal professional’s intervention saved Rev. Ortiz from having to depart the nation by the top of July.
That has upset parishioners, who say the 2 males have devoted their lives to serving others, and have performed large good for the folks within the parish.
“We had been scared,” Lois Farley Shuford mentioned after leaving the church service. “I imply, on this [President Donald Trump] administration, we’re scared about all the pieces.”
“We’re scared for a lot of of our parishioners,” added Bob Shuford. About half of the St. John XXIII’s parishioners are Hispanic within the multilingual parish, which presents mass in English, Spanish and French Creole.
“We’re conscious of what’s taking place with our clergymen,” Bob Shuford mentioned. “It’s part of a bigger concern that we have now, and we’ve all been by coaching on how we are able to greatest help our fellow parishioners.”
The Archdiocese of Chicago consolidated the parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Mary to kind St. John XXIII parish in early 2022. By the top of that 12 months, Lokpo led the parish as its pastor, assisted by Ortiz because the parish’s affiliate pastor.
“The core of this place, notably at St. Nick, however the core of the entire parish has been that every one are welcome. That’s a essential factor right here on this parish dwelling, and so I feel that has been prolonged to Jose and Jean-Philippe as properly,” Lois Farley Shuford mentioned.
Ortiz stays philosophical about the potential for being compelled to depart St. John XXIII and return to Mexico.
“It’s what it’s,” Ortiz mentioned. What actually issues to him is his connection to the members of his parish, he added.
“You attempt to do what’s greatest for the parish and for the folks.”
In an April letter to the parish, Lokpo wrote his preliminary considerations that his and Ortiz’s inexperienced card utility for continued residency had but to be processed by the federal authorities, regardless of submitting his required paperwork to the federal government in 2022.
On the time, he anticipated that Ortiz’s visa would expire in July, which might require him to return to Mexico; nonetheless, immigration attorneys had been in a position to acquire a 240-day extension on Ortiz’s visa because of the time misplaced due to the pandemic.
Lokpo is now searching for the identical extension, in accordance with Ortiz. Lokpo’s visa is about to run out on the finish of October.
“I ask on your prayers and your understanding as we navigate this problem. I’m involved concerning the disruption it will trigger for our St. John XXIII Parish, but I belief in God’s hand on this and in His take care of our religion group,” Lokpo wrote.
St. John XXIII is run by a global Catholic group referred to as Comboni Missionaries, in accordance with Comboni’s Senior Communications Specialist Lindsay Braud.
Comboni ministers to the “world’s poorest and most deserted folks,” in accordance with its web site.
Comboni has 3,500 missionaries worldwide and operates in 41 international locations, in accordance with its web site.
Comboni’s clergymen in North American parishes are chosen by the Provincial Superior Rev. Ruffino Ezama.
“We’re a global spiritual order,” Ezama mentioned. “Wherever there may be want, we don’t have a look at if somebody is an immigrant or not, as a result of we go there to serve the church.”
Regardless of the mission serving in 41 international locations, Ezama mentioned the US has essentially the most rigorous necessities for spiritual staff.
Comboni clergymen take vows of poverty, which prevents them from being paid for his or her work, chastity and obedience, which beholds them to orders from their superiors at Comboni.
Lokpo didn’t reply to a request for remark for this story. Shelley Benson and Tom Lenz, the chair and vice-chair of the Parish Pastoral Council, respectively, responded on Lokpo’s behalf, asking Pioneer Press to talk to the Archdiocese of Chicago.
The Archdiocese commented, “Whereas we hope the federal authorities acknowledges the particular standing of non secular staff, we don’t talk about personnel issues.”
Majority of clergymen underneath 50 are immigrants
The archdiocese, like many others in the US, is going through a scarcity of clergymen as fewer males select that vocation. Some Chicagoland parishes depend on immigrant clergymen to fill the hole.
Practically 60% of youthful diocesan clergymen — underneath the age of fifty — who serve within the Archdiocese of Chicago are immigrants, in accordance with a 2023 report. The quantity is a substantial distinction with clergymen over the age of fifty, of whom 81% had been born within the U.S. The typical age of a priest in 2023 was 64.
Previous to 2023, it might usually take 12 months for the federal government to course of for a inexperienced card. That’s properly inside the five-year time-frame that an R1 visa provides a spiritual employee, in accordance with immigration lawyer Tahreem Kalam, with Minsky, McCormick and Hallagan.
However that modified drastically after a 2023 determination from the Division of Homeland Safety through the Biden administration.
That created a big backlog, in accordance with Kalam, who mentioned the 5 years may run out for some R1 visa holders. She mentioned they’re in an “unattainable” state of affairs.
A workaround that some attorneys attempt for his or her purchasers is to have them apply for an H-1B visa, Kalam mentioned, however that received’t work for many spiritual since they take vows of poverty.
“It’s an enormous downside locally,” she mentioned.
“Particularly an establishment just like the Catholic Church — It’s a world [institution] — They ship folks to totally different international locations on a regular basis.”
She represents a big group of Catholic nuns, and “they’ve all simply form of come to phrases now that they’ve to depart [the country],” she remarked.
On the nationwide degree, some dioceses are taking their calls for to authorities. Final 12 months, the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, and 5 of its clergymen sued the federal authorities over its backlog of inexperienced card approvals.
Steps are being taken within the U.S. Home and Senate to convey a decision for spiritual staff’ standing, in accordance with the Related Press.
“I feel the one method for modifications of their visas is that if a few of these greater spiritual organizations had been to foyer and present Congress how a lot they’re being affected by dropping their spiritual leaders,” Kalam mentioned.
‘Don’t take our clergymen’
On a heat summer season night on the grounds of St. Nicholas Church, one of many two church buildings that make up St. John XXIII parish, legal professional William Quiceno volunteers his time to present immigrants free authorized consultations each different month. He has been doing so for the previous 10 to 12 years.
On this specific July night, he had eight new purchasers. Of these, he actually solely had a path ahead for 3, he mentioned.
“Folks have extra worry, for certain,” Quiceno mentioned. “They’re nervous extra about their future, their youngsters, the lives they’ve established right here. They’re in search of any form of method they will repair their standing.”
“Lots of them have identified they haven’t had any choices, however they’re hoping that sooner or later, there could be an choice. Now that form of hope disappears.”
“Their hope form of disappears,” he repeated to himself.
Contained in the makeshift ready room, Teresa Infante and Mireya Terrazaz take names on a sign-up sheet and usher purchasers into the lawyer’s short-term workplace.
Within the wake of guarantees from the Trump administration to crack down on immigration enforcement in Chicago, Infante and Terrazaz confirmed the renewed tensions felt within the immigrant group. Within the months since Trump’s return to the Oval Workplace, as many as 22 folks signed up free of charge consultations one night, creating the necessity for the lawyer to remain one hour later than he often volunteers.
What the 2 didn’t rely on, after a long time of volunteer work for the parish, is that their very own clergymen could be at risk of not being allowed to remain within the nation.
“It was very unhappy,” Infante mentioned of Ortiz’s state of affairs. A bunch of parishioners had met over the weeks to wish for Ortiz to remain within the nation. “Please, don’t take our clergymen away,” Terrazas mentioned.
Now they wait to see whether or not Lokpo’s visa will probably be prolonged previous October.
“We now have to wish,” mentioned Infante. “So much.”
