St. Louis Archdiocese sues over policy barring it from providing sacraments to ICE detainees

(OSV News) — The Archdiocese of St. Louis filed a lawsuit against the federal government Oct. 5 over a policy it said prohibits priests from distributing Communion and hearing confessions to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, said 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, due to their no-contact policy that prevents priests from meeting detainees face-to-face. The policy has left clergy unable to provide sacraments to detainees.

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. “Priests are also not permitted to say Mass. Offering and receiving these sacraments is a central tenet of our faith. Catholics receive the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the deprivation of these sacraments imposes real and immediate harm on Catholic detainees and priests.”

“As a result of this policy, Catholic priests cannot fulfill the mission to which Matthew 25:36 calls them, namely, to welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the imprisoned. This ministry is central to our Catholic calling and necessary to care for the souls of detained Catholics,” it continued.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations in a written statement Oct. 6.

“These allegations are FALSE,” the statement said. “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. DHS ensures detainees are accommodated with religious services, including access to Catholic priests, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the Sacrament of Penance as requested.”

“Let’s be clear: county restrictions on physical contact do not mean religious services are denied,” it added. “DHS has done its due diligence. The media should do theirs before turning a facility security protocol into another misleading headline.”

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.

The complaint stressed that denying pastoral access to detainees not only violated their religious rights, but also the religious rights of Catholic priests who are “obligated to say Mass and administer the sacraments of the Eucharist (commonly called communion) and Reconciliation (commonly called confession).”

In its statement, the archdiocese said, “Our Catholic priests regularly visit and provide the sacraments to criminal detainees in other jails, but are unable to do so at the Ste. Genevieve Detention Center.”

“The lawsuit asks the federal court to halt these policies and restore the religious liberty rights of priests and the detained,” it said.

Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy and communications at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and the former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News, “I would think that wherever one stands on the immigration issue overall, a reasonable person would agree that detained immigrants should have the ability to practice their faith, and, in the Catholic tradition, access to the sacraments. It is a fundamental freedom enshrined in our Constitution to which all persons are entitled.”

“Immigrants being held in detention and facing deportation are most in need of pastoral support and the affirmation of their God-given human dignity and worth,” Appleby said Oct. 6. “To deny that to them is both unnecessary and a violation of human rights.”

A failure to provide pastoral access to immigrants in detention “is a growing issue around the country,” he said.

“DHS could address this issue simply by issuing a directive requiring their detention centers to allow clergy full access to minister to their people,” Appleby said. “For an administration that likes to tout their commitment to religious freedom, this should be a no brainer.”

In its statement, the archdiocese said, “We have faith that the judicial system will vindicate the God-given right to religious freedom that ensures Catholics — and all the faithful — may practice their faith, even while imprisoned.”

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