(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 closer to justice in honoring the dignity of all migrants.”
CSPL, which describes itself as a “Catholic and Christian” group merging liberation theology and community organizing, did not allege that DHS was violating detainees’ rights to …