The political climate has not changed Old St. Patrick’s Parish’s longstanding ministry of helping immigrants resettle in the Chicago area. That was clear when the parish held its annual collection of household goods on Feb. 16.

Parishioners donated bedroom and kitchen items for four households. The donations this year will be used to resettle migrant families.

The ministry is rooted firmly in the Gospel, said Bridget O’Brien, director of ministries for Old St. Pat’s.

“The consistency is the clear call of the Gospel in Catholic social teaching to act in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are immigrants,” she said.

That call has been evident in the Gospel readings at Mass and in statements from Cardinal Cupich and Pope Francis, she said.

“We would have articulated those commitments five years ago, 10 years ago, those are commitments of our Catholic faith,” she said. “What has changed is the fear that our brothers and sisters are experiencing.”

In addition to helping migrant families settle into housing, parishioners accompany them in their journey by doing such things as helping them find jobs and navigate public transit.

“These are people of tremendous resilience and deep faith, and alongside that faith is a real fear about what it means to be here today,” O’Brien said. “There have been times that we have wished to facilitate encounters between families and members to have that direct fellowship, and families very understandably say, ‘We can’t come to that event.’”

Some migrant families have avoided parish gatherings out of fear, but that effect has ramped up in recent weeks, O’Brien said.

“There is definitely a different sort of fear on behalf of families who have endured tremendous amounts to come to the U.S. and are working very hard to work within the legal framework,” she said. 

These changes call the parish to become more creative in how it serves those in need, she said.

“It calls us to create more opportunities than we’ve had before for our members to support our brothers and sisters and to act in solidarity and to learn about how policy affects them and to pray with and for them and to do what we can to meet their material needs, which is what this household drive is about,” O’Brien said.

And there is more to it, she said.

“I think it’s important to know and hear that our migrant brothers and sisters are experiencing new fear and are demonized,” O’Brien said. “And I also think it’s important to know that fear and mistrust of migrants is not a new thing. That call to welcome our brothers and sisters and the temptation to reject them are not new things in our country, but are perhaps present at a heightened way right now.”

Working with migrants fits in with one of the parish’s core missions — transformative kinship.

“How we understand transformative kinship is the real call that the Gospel and our Catholic tradition puts to us is not to sort of reach down and do something for someone, but to come alongside them and to interact genuinely as brothers and sisters and to be transformed by that in who we are and to be evermore converted to fidelity to the Gospel and to outreach to the least of our brothers and sisters and to have that be something that impacts our faith,” O’Brien said. “We see this as an expression of that.”

Items collected on Feb. 16 were divided into bins for four households and will be put in storage until needed, said Krista Chinchilla-Patzke, pastoral ministry associate.

When resettling families, the parish works with Catholic Charities and other agencies to identify families it can sponsor, she explained. Once homes are found for them, a team of parishioners  cleans the space and sets it up with the donated items from the parish along with furniture from the Chicago Furniture Bank.

The generosity of parishioners has not waned in the face of changes in the political climate, she noted.

“From the beginning that I have worked with this ministry — before this [presidential] administration — I have been astounded at the outpouring of love and support in terms of time, in terms of finances, in terms of prayers. People have been so, so generous,” Chinchilla-Patzke said. “We have noticed with the new administration that people are really eager to serve, and that service is very different for each person.”

Parishioner Terry Scully led the household drive this year and said he became involved in the immigrant and refugee ministry because he wanted to help those in need.

“Helping families like we do on their journey, like all of us had — at least through our ancestors — is very important for me and my wife, Beverley,” he said, adding that several of his family members were helping sort items for the collection as well. “It’s an important aspect of what needs to be done to help people today.”