Immigrant rights activists are hailing Chicago’s next Roman Catholic archbishop, hoping that Blase Cupich’s outspoken advocacy for their cause translates to meaningful changes to local and state laws that would make Illinois the friendliest state for immigrants.
“It’s always very encouraging to hear your faith leader calling on what you believe is a human rights issue,” said Erendira Rendon, a lead organizer for the Resurrection Project, a Pilsen-based community development organization. “We’ve been grateful for Cardinal (Francis) George’s support of immigration reform, but it’s exciting to see the new archbishop is going to make it a priority.”
Cupich called for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws on the day last month when it was announced that he would succeed George in mid-November. He followed that up Tuesday with specifics, saying all immigrants should able to receive health care and arguing for a path to citizenship.
“This would help end the high number of family separations, especially in mixed-status families,” Cupich said in emailed statements to the Tribune. “It would also end the fear many undocumented persons feel, by enabling them to register with the government and fully contribute their talents and energies to our communities and nation.”
Cupich’s recent statements, observers say, stand in contrast to a more pastoral approach he has taken as bishop of Spokane, Wash., a characterization that Cupich disputes.
They also come as a growing number of states and local governments take steps to improve life for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, by curbing police cooperation with federal officials on deportations and even proposing voting rights in some instances.
Advocates in Washington state say Cupich’s recent proclamations in Chicago, where nearly half the Catholic flock is Latino, break new ground for a bishop who has served largely rural and conservative dioceses in eastern Washington and western South Dakota. They say Cupich earned a reputation for quietly tending to his diverse flock, not for boldly championing reforms, even if they were important to him personally.
“Bishop Cupich has been a strong but not very vocal supporter of immigration reform in Washington state,” said Rich Stolz, executive director of OneAmerica, that state’s largest immigrant advocacy organization. “He acted in a more pastoral manner, embracing the diversity of the congregations in his diocese. But he might be better categorized as a cautious public figure on the issue.”
During his four-year stint as bishop of Spokane, Cupich rarely stepped out on his own to call for changes to the country’s immigration policies. His public statements often followed the cues of colleagues in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Washington State Catholic Conference, as well as more senior prelates, such as Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley.
Cupich said Tuesday that his strong support of immigrant rights is nothing new.
“I have been a strong supporter of immigrants throughout my ministry, both pastorally and in the public square, and will use my office as Archbishop of Chicago to defend their rights, consistent with Catholic teaching,” he said.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Miguel Diaz, now a professor at Loyola University Chicago, said Cupich is following the lead of Pope Francis, who on his first trip outside of Rome addressed the marginalization of “immigrants around the world.”
“Cupich travels to Chicago on his first trip as archbishop-designate and what does he do? He speaks about the need for immediate just and comprehensive immigration reform rejecting indifference and embodying instead a culture of solidarity, encounter and hospitality toward immigrants,” Diaz said.
Cupich’s pastoral approach on immigration, observers say, can be seen in his response to a wildfire that swept through the grasslands of eastern Washington earlier this year. Cupich traveled three hours to a farmworker camp in the area and celebrated Mass, staying late into the evening to talk to the men, women and children. He also has said recently he will brush up on his Spanish and ask seminarians in the Chicago Archdiocese to do the same so they can communicate with their flock.
Many in Chicago credit Cardinal George for laying a firm foundation of church activism in support of immigrant rights. He has marched in rallies and launched the archdiocese’s office of immigrant affairs — the first and only office of its kind in the American Catholic Church. Earlier this year he called for laws that would keep families together and sought federal approval to shelter unaccompanied children who have crossed the country’s southern border.
But advocates say the cardinal’s hard line against same-sex marriage, abortion rights and contraception fractured some relationships and pushed immigration to the back burner in Springfield, diminishing the church’s efforts on behalf of immigrants.
When the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights endorsed same-sex marriage in 2013, the cardinal told 11 groups they had to choose between the coalition and support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Nine groups lost a total of $300,000, forcing them to scale back projects to address domestic violence, affordable housing and immigration rights.
Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, said that strained relationship is on the mend.
“As time has moved on here, we’re trying to get a little better understanding than we had before,” he said. “That took a little bit of time to heal that wound.”
Cupich had praise Tuesday for George while responding to a question about how he would move forward with immigration advocates who feel betrayed by the cardinal’s emphasis on the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
“Since I have known Cardinal George he has been a strong advocate for immigrants and is well considered by them, especially appreciated as a friend,” Cupich said. “I would also say that the Catholic Church advocates a full range of issues and does not consider its advocacy of any one issue as a zero sum game that diminishes the importance of the others.”
Should Cupich build on George’s efforts to improve the lives of immigrants, his won’t be the Chicago area’s lone religious voice. He arrives as a number of faith communities — Muslim, Jewish, evangelical and Catholic — have convened to address immigrant rights. Ellen Carmell, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Bridging America Project, said a number of area clergy are trying to coordinate an “Immigration Sabbath,” when diverse congregations address immigration reform over one weekend.
“If anything he’ll try to be a unifier in the mix of that,” said the Rev. Larry Dowling, pastor of St. Agatha Catholic Church in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood. “How can we draw it all together and really be a force?”
Lawrence Benito, executive director of the coalition, said he would welcome an opportunity to speak with Cupich about a statewide agenda that includes local and state voting rights for permanent residents and longtime undocumented taxpayers; health care; and laws that separate the policing powers of local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
Similar proposals at the state and local level are already rippling across the country, especially since efforts to overhaul federal immigration law have stalled.
More than 200 local and state governments have already passed resolutions or laws that absolve local law enforcement of cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Meanwhile, New York is the only state so far where lawmakers are considering an initiative to grant state and local voting rights to noncitizens who can show they have lived and paid taxes in New York for at least three years.
“We hope to turn a new page with a new archbishop,” Benito said. “We have a lot in common, particularly the immigrant families we’re fighting for. I hope that’s enough of a common ground to forge a new, rekindled relationship moving forward.”
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