Archbishop Blase Cupich used his first address before the City Club of Chicago to reiterate his call for immigration reform, discuss a nascent Catholic school reorganization effort and reflect on his first few months living in the city.
He addressed immigration by drawing on a metaphor that Chicago is a city of many languages.
“When I walk down the streets, I hear no fewer than three or four languages,” Cupich said. “When people use the word for ‘home,’ in whatever language, they all mean Chicago.”
Cupich called for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws in September. In November, he lauded President Barack Obama for issuing an executive action that could protect millions of immigrants from deportation, calling it “a time for momentary celebration.”
“Their aspirations have always been the same: to find a better life and to leave behind violence, poverty and oppression,” Cupich said. “It’s a gaping wound right now. We need to look for a way to give everyone a path to citizenship.”
Cupich also fielded questions on six Roman Catholic schools on the Northwest Side — St. Pascal, St. Constance, St. Cornelius, Our Lady of Victory, St. Tarcissus and St. Thecla — that last month were asked by the archdiocese to collaborate and create a regional plan starting the next school year.
“We have to make sure we always have strong schools, not just a group of schools that are all bleeding,” Cupich said. “We have to be smart about how we use our resources.”
The concept is called regionalization, in which parochial schools in a given area merge into one independent academic institution that is sustained by the students, faculties and staffs, and finances of the parishes involved.
Cupich said he would stay out of the collaboration entirely, allowing the schools to decide the parameters of the collaboration. He said that maintaining strong heritage lines was key. Schools leaders said last month that choosing to forgo the plan would cost them all current and future financial support from the archdiocese.
“It’s not just money and students that are being transferred,” he said. “We are losing site of heritage. We have to look at the legacy and the alumni and make sure they are being preserved.”
Overall, Cupich said his three months in Chicago have been positive.
“Chicago is an impressive city in the sense that it leaves a mark on people,” he said. “It evokes a response and taps into the deepest aspirations of people and draws out qualities that are often overlooked.”
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