Chicago nuns, 86 and 90, take protest for immigrants to DC
Naperville event sees lower revenue and attendance
Sister Pat Murphy and Sister JoAnn Persch marched into the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill recently with their identification and $50 worth of bail money, knowing what was coming.
The nuns were in Washington, D.C., on July 18 for the Catholic Day of Action for Immigrant Children, which drew more than 200 Catholics from around the United States. Wearing placards with pictures of children who died while in federal custody over purple Sisters of Mercy T-shirts, they prayed the rosary and sang. A Jesuit priest blessed the group as authorities arrived, handcuffing each protester with a zip tie.
Through it all, Murphy, 90, and Persch, 85, nuns with the Sisters of Mercy, were never afraid. This wasn’t their first brush with the law in their fight for social justice: The pair was arrested long ago in Nevada at a nuclear test site and in the same D.C. rotunda last year, they said.
And it was an outgrowth of part of their weekly routine, focusing on the way the country treats immigrants. Every Friday at 7:15 a.m., the sisters gather with members of the Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants, a faith-based nonprofit the sisters helped co-found, to pray a rosary outside of the Broadview U.S. Customs and Immigration Center, a staging center where immigrants are taken to be processed before they are detained in county jails.
To the sisters, the treatment of immigrants is a moral issue, not specific to any faith. The group sang “All are Welcome” between decades of the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, voicing intentions for immigrant communities.
“This is exactly what we were doing when we were arrested. We were singing and praying the rosary,” Persch said.
The day the two were arrested, the protesters had been educated on their rights and given wristbands that affirmed their decision to participate in the arrest. In the rotunda, authorities tapped protesters on the shoulder and asked if they’d like to be arrested. Those with wristbands agreed and were handcuffed, thoroughly patted down and stripped of their belongings, which were put in a plastic bag, Persch said. The group was taken by bus to a processing building that reminded her of a warehouse.
After a few hours, protesters were given the opportunity to post bail and were released.
“It’s just like immigrants come out of detention,” Persch said. “Same plastic bag.”
Persch said the decision to be arrested came after a lot of prayer and discernment.
“You have to do something,” Persch said. “The little bit of discomfort we felt that day is so minimal than what the immigrants go through.”
Persch and Murphy, who live together in an East Side neighborhood apartment, have been advocates for immigrants in Chicago for years. Since their return home, they have resumed their usual weekly activities, which include visits to detained immigrants and helping at Su Casa, a homeless shelter in Back of the Yards.
When the group began Friday vigils 13 years ago, the Broadview center was used for deportation, Persch said. After witnessing deportees being bused to the airport and speaking with frantic families, Persch and Murphy decided to help.
“We have a special saying,” Murphy said. “We go respectfully and peacefully, but we never take no for an answer. That’s why after 13 years we’re still crawling along.”
In 2009, the sisters helped lobby Illinois members of Congress to pass a bill allowing religious workers access to detention centers. This allowed them to create a visiting program that started at McHenry County Jail but has since expanded to three other detention facilities and has become a model for others across the country.
“One human being to another, we believe in a theology of presence,” Murphy said. “God created that human family. … Everybody goes to God with different paths, and no one religion has all the truth.”
When asked if they would consider being arrested again, both sisters said they wouldn’t hesitate.
“We are brothers and sisters, and it doesn’t make any difference the color of our skin or our religion or the country we come from,” Murphy said. “We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. It’s a human family.”
Civil War Days will not return to Naper Settlement in 2020.
“The decision to move away from Civil War Days is explicitly a financial one,” a news release from Naperville’s history museum said.
Museum officials cited a 52% decline in attendance, 50% decline in revenue and a 35% decline in reenactor participation since 2015.
Naper Settlement Spokeswoman Abbey Bobzin said in an email “there is no empirical data” on why attendance and participation have gone down.
The annual event this year featured encampments, a fashion show with 1860s garb, reenactors impersonating famous figures including Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln, a reading of the Gettysburg Address, food and Civil War-era items for sale.
“While a portion of the museum’s everyday operations is funded by the city of Naperville, the remainder is generated through various endeavors led by the Naperville Heritage Society, including our special events,” President and CEO Rena Tamayo-Calabrese in the release.
“Events have life cycles and we analyze all the variables on a rolling basis. After much thought and consideration, the Naperville Heritage Society Programs and Events Committee recommended that the event sunset, and the Board of Directors accepted that recommendation.”
Naper Settlement’s decision to cancel its Civil War Days event comes a month after Lake County Forest Preserve canceled its Civil War Days due to safety concerns following an initial cancellation of the event by the Forest Preserve’s president due to concerns over whether the event was appropriate.
Canceling an event that has been held at Naper Settlement for the past 37 years is “exclusively a business decision,” TamayoCalabrese said.
“While we too share in the difficulty of letting it go, we are proud to know that Naper Settlement is part of so many special family moments and memories,” she said. “Looking forward, we strive to continue to bring stellar programs, events, and exhibits to gather our community, and are excited for the new offerings planned.”
The cancellation of Civil War Days also comes in the same year organizers of Christkindlmarket pulled out of an agreement to hold the event at Naper Settlement and the Naperville Wine Festival, which had been held on museum grounds, was canceled after a 16-year run in Naperville. This summer also marked the final year Ribfest was held in Naperville.
Naper Settlement plans to replace Civil War Days with new “large-scale popup educational offerings” that will be different every year.
The focus next year will be on World War II with a Homefront 1940s Weekend, according to the news release.
Activities could include radio shows, 1940s swing dancing, jazz music, a fashion show, film screenings and military vehicles.
The Homefront 1940s Weekend pop-up, which will be paired with an exhibit on loan from the National World War II museum in the spring, is expected to highlight the how people supported of the war.
“The homefront was a way of life for many Napervillians during World War II and it directly affected our residents and community, shaping how we live as a city today,” Tamayo-Calabrese said. “There are compelling stories right here in our town and they are important to tell the next generation of Naperville. We look forward to welcoming everyone to Homefront 1940s Weekend and creating new traditions.”