Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

Interfaith Clergy and Religious Leader Breakfast: "Building Community Where All Are Welcome"

Wednesday, March 3rd, 8:30-10:30AM

Chicago Methodist Temple (2nd Floor Parlor)

77 West Washington Street
Chicago, IL 60602-2802

The Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition, a project of the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, invites clergy and religious leaders from diverse faith traditions to come together to listen, learn and discuss the issue of immigration and explore how to incorporate immigrant justice issues into their ministry. 

Featured Speakers Include:

The Reverend David Fraccaro, United Church of Christ

Bishop Wayne Miller, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Sister JoAnn Persch and Sister Pat Murphy, Sisters of Mercy

Please RSVP by February 26th by sending an e-mail to Jenny Dale at jdale@chicagosanctuary.org or calling 773-293-3680  

Rev. David Fraccaro is a recent graduate of Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University in New York City with a focus on religion and human rights. He most recently served as the young adult ecumenical formation coordinator for the National Council of Churches and the US Conference for World Council of Churches, as well as the coordinator for Sojourners visitation program with detained immigrants and asylum seekers out of The Riverside Church in NYC, the program that helped inspire the recent independent movie "The Visitor."  Rev. Fraccaro is an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ, formerly serving two UCC churches in NJ, while also representing the UCC at the United Nations. He currently works with the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago as an Education and Outreach trainer, working specifically on a new "Stranger to Neighbor" initiative which seeks to build greater interfaith collaboration and friendship between diverse communities of faith and their immigrant/refugee neighbors.

Click here to read an article written by Rev. Fraccaro about immigration detention

Rev. Wayne Miller, bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and member of the ELCA's Ready Bench on Immigration, is a vocal advocate for immigration reform. His involvement with immigration and refugee issues first began in the 1970s when he worked on a refugee resettlement project with his congregation.

Bishop Miller believes that welcoming immigrants in and of itself is a tangible way of breaking down boundaries and borders of separation. In Chicago he works to educate others on the destructive and divisive impact that ignorance about America's newcomers has on the life of a church and a community. Bishop Miller continues to be transformed in his search to further understand and speak boldly in support of immigration reform.

Click here to watch a video of Bishop Wayne Miller speaking on immigration

Sister JoAnn Persch and Sister Pat Murphy, Sisters of Mercy, have worked together on justice issues and the accompaniment of marginalized communities for decades. In 1990 they began Su Casa Catholic Worker Community for Central American Refugees seeking political asylum as survivors of torture as part of the Sanctuary Movement.  They have continued to live out the prophetic tradition of "Sanctuary" by taking leadership in the Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition.  Sister Pat and Sister JoAnn became Peace and Justice Coordinators for the Sisters of Mercy in Chicago and currently continue their work as Peace and Justice Ministers in the Chicago area of the WestMidwest Community. They have been leadesr both locally and nationally in advocating for the rights of immigrants, especially those held in detention.  They are two of the coordinators of the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, a coalition of religious that led the campaign to provide pastoral care for detained immigrants and continued to coordinate that ministry programs at McHenry County Jail and Broadview Detention and Processing Center. 

Click here to read a recent article about their work in immigration detention