All posts tagged: Blase Cupich

Cardinal Tobin leads Ash Wednesday Masses inside New Jersey ICE facility

Cardinal Tobin leads Ash Wednesday Masses inside New Jersey ICE facility

Published by Sam Flores

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) — Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, entered the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility Wednesday morning (Feb. 18) to celebrate an Ash Wednesday Mass for detainees. Newark Auxiliary Bishops Pedro Bismarck Chau, Manuel Cruz and Gregory Studerus, who is retired, are also expected to celebrate Ash Wednesday Masses at Delaney Hall later Wednesday. Tobin, who will celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass again later at St. Patrick’s, Newark’s historic “old cathedral,” said starting the day with detainees was his priority. “It’s important for the church to be part of this place, of the respect for the dignity of those women and men,” he said as he exited the facility escorted in the Newark sheriff’s blacked-out GMC. The cardinal celebrated two Masses with the women detained inside and said that despite their detention, they showed strength. “It was sad and yet there was a serenity among them, because they’re women of great courage,” he said. Providing spiritual support in this moment is important, said the cardinal, adding that faith …

Judge orders ICE to allow Catholics access to Chicago-area detention center

Judge orders ICE to allow Catholics access to Chicago-area detention center

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Cardinal Blase Cupich will celebrate an outdoor Ash Wednesday Mass and procession in solidarity with immigrant families hosted by the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, according to an announcement by the group Friday (Feb. 13). A day earlier, a judge ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to grant the Christian advocacy group access to the Broadview detention center near Chicago to minister to detainees on Ash Wednesday, which begins the Christian season of Lent. Yesenia Rivera, a spokesperson for the group, told RNS that the group could not confirm whether Cupich would be present for its Ash Wednesday ministry inside Broadview. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman wrote in his preliminary injunction, “The court finds that the government has substantially burdened plaintiffs’ exercise of religion.” The Rev. Dan Hartnett, a Jesuit priest who is part of the coalition’s clergy council and who was a plaintiff on the legal complaint, said in a statement, “As Lent begins, we pray this ruling restores religious freedom for those detained and moves our country …

The US Catholic bishops have spoken out about racism. Have they spoken up for women?

The US Catholic bishops have spoken out about racism. Have they spoken up for women?

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — After a video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account last Friday (Feb. 6), Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich and Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger sat up straight and called Trump out. Their righteous anger joined a bipartisan chorus of boos from elected officials, who were both embarrassed and aghast at the White House’s attempts to laugh off the racist display and Trump’s refusal to apologize for it. While the offending post came down 12 hours after it appeared, it only bolstered the impression that racism permeates Trumpian policies, from the racial profiling present in the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration crackdown to comments from deep within the Trump circle about “Americans” having more babies. White Christian nationalism has spread its ugly tentacles into nearly every part of the U.S. government, and it is growing. They don’t have much respect for women, either. The world saw, or at least heard, Trump’s attitude toward women in 2016 when the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape …

Cardinal Cupich says feds stopped priests, demanded citizenship proof

Cardinal Cupich says feds stopped priests, demanded citizenship proof

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Cardinal Blase Cupich, head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, has twice told interviewers in recent weeks that priests in the archdiocese have been stopped by federal agents and asked to prove their immigration status — demands he said were “because of their color.” Cupich made the allegation in a Jan. 17 interview with WTTW, a Chicago PBS affiliate, and in an interview published Friday (Feb. 6) in the U.S. edition of El País, a Spanish newspaper. “I’ve had some priests who are of a different color being targeted and arrested — stopped — because of their color and asking them to prove that they’re citizens. That’s not America,” Cupich told the PBS affiliate. “We should not have to live in a country where people have to carry around their documents all the time.” In the El País interview, Cupich said: “It brings terror into a city where not just immigrants, but the population, feel as though they’re being terrorized by the ways that these roundups are going.” He continued, “This is really unheard …

NY Archbishop Hicks commits to missionary church at installation

NY Archbishop Hicks commits to missionary church at installation

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (RNS) — Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks began his first homily as the leader of about 2.5 million New York Catholics by speaking Spanish, quoting from a hymn almost every Mass-going Latino knows. “Lord, take my life,” he began in Spanish, imperfectly quoting from “Alma Misionera,” or “Missionary Soul.” He continued, “I’m willing to do whatever you want, no matter what it is, you lead me to serve.” On Friday (Feb. 6), Cardinal Timothy Dolan formally stepped down after more than 16 years leading the Archdiocese of New York as Hicks became his successor. Hicks most recently served as bishop of Joliet, Illinois, and previously led an orphanage in El Salvador, was a Chicago priest and served as a seminary formation director. At age 58, he presumably will have almost two decades to lead the influential diocese before he is expected to submit his resignation at 75. At his installation Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Hicks made two things crystal clear: that he seeks to lead a church that will, at its heart, be missionary, …

The anti-life administration

The anti-life administration

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Hours before federal agents in Minneapolis killed a second U.S. citizen, President Donald Trump addressed the 2026 March for Life via video on Friday (Jan. 23), congratulating those who came to Washington “to defend the infinite worth and God-given dignity of every human life.” Citing the Declaration of Independence, which asserted citizens’ individual freedoms, he thanked the marchers for defending the unborn and claimed responsibility for “unprecedented strides to protect innocent life and support the institution of the family.” As they do each year, thousands of pro-life groups and individuals marched past the U.S. Capitol, where just five years earlier masked protesters attacked federal officers and threatened lawmakers. Now, Minneapolis is in chaos, ridden by 3,000 armed, masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, some of whom reportedly received minimal training before being issued weapons. Are pardoned Jan. 6 rioters among those new ICE agents? Watching video footage of one group recalls the other. The cognitive dissonance between what the current administration says and what it does roils the airwaves and frightens the citizenry. …