Access to Religious Ministry Act Passes in Illinois House and Senate Unanimously!!
Access to Religious Ministry Act Passes in Illinois House and Senate Unanimously!!
A delegation of 8 Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition leaders joined other community advocacy groups from around the state of Illinois in Springfield Illinois on November 19th to lobby our IL Senators and Representatives to pass HB4613, the Access to Reliiogus Ministry Act. We rushed from office to office expressing the urgency of the bill and the importance of religoius workers to get into the immigration detention center.
If you are a clergy person or lay leader who is interested in volunteering to offer pastoral care to immigrants in detention, please contact Jenny Dale at jdale@chicagosanctuary.org.
Thank you to to everyone who helped make phone calls and write letters to your IL Senators and Representatives, it made all the difference!
· Religious workers would be able to meet with immigration detainees who wish to consult with the religious workers regarding their spiritual and other needs.
· The jails would need to provide religious workers with reasonable access to immigration detainees during scheduled times during regular visitation hours.
· Such ministries would not count against any visitation that the detainees would otherwise be entitled to.
· The facility would work to bring in religious workers from various faiths that reflect the religious diversity of the facility’s immigration detained population.
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