Madden Mischief

Why was it necessary for the St. Louis Archdiocese to have to sue the Department of Homeland Security to overcome an alleged ICE policy barring priests from providing sacraments to incarcerated migrants awaiting deportation?

Will Democrats’ sweeping victory in the midterm elections now ease the situation by making it more likely priests will be allowed to deliver holy sacraments to prisoners behind bars at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center?

Florida Catholic Media reported priests had contended they were being prevented from distributing Communion and hearing confessions at that correction facility.

Yet a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security reportedly denies the allegations saying DHS ensures detainees at the facility can have access to Catholic priests and the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Penance as requested.

“This is a non-contact county jail, not an ICE facility. Detainees are given the opportunity to practice their religions. All religious items are permitted as soon as detainees make the request,” a DHS spokesman reportedly had said. Top of Form

So, which is it, folks.  Can there be religious practices administered by priests behind bars there or is practicing religion in prisons now against the law?

The archdiocese filed the lawsuit against the federal government over the policy it said prohibits priests from distributing Communion and hearing confessions to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

I suppose like so many other things in life, we shall see how truth unfolds in court. 

No Sacraments for Prisoners

Meanwhile, the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, charges that the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center — a detention center ICE uses for migrants awaiting deportation proceedings – has refused to accommodate clergy seeking to provide sacraments to migrants held there.

The lawsuit contends that this is due to the facility having a no-contact policy that prevents priests from meeting detainees face-to-face, leaving the clergy unable to provide sacraments to them. In a statement, the Archdiocese of St. Louis said it “steadfastly supports the right of all Catholics and the priests who serve them to practice their Catholic faith.

“The Ste. Genevieve Detention Center currently prohibits Catholic priests from offering, and Catholic detainees from receiving, the sacraments of confession and communion,” the statement said.

In the complaint, which named local and federal officials including DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the archdiocese argued that the policy barring visitation from clergy violates the First Amendment’s free exercise clause and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, as well as the Missouri Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

One would think that immigrants held in detention facing deportation are most in need of pastoral support and the affirmation of their God-given human dignity and worth, said a senior fellow for policy and communications at the Center for Migration Studies of New York.

I would add that denying prisoners’ sacraments is also a violation of human rights.  Hopefully those behind bars still are regarded and treated as human beings.

Tom Madden doesn’t go to church much these days anywhere near as often as a good Catholic ought to, but he truly believes in God and has the greatest respect for His priests.  So, he doesn’t want to see them locked out of places where they’re needed most, in a prison!  When he’s not writing articles, books and blogs, Madden’s running TransMedia Group, the PR firm he started years ago when he left NBC. Working closely alongside him is his resourceful daughter, Adrienne Mazzone, who today is the international PR firm’s illustrious president.