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Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - fedupinwaukegan - 11-22-2009
Immigration center named for Father Gary
Former longtime pastor 'very loved here'
Comments
November 21, 2009
By JUDY MASTERSON <!-- e --><a href="mailto:jmasterson@scn1.com">jmasterson@scn1.com</a><!-- e -->
WAUKEGAN -- It has been 20 years since Maria Garcia immigrated to Waukegan from her native Mexico, and she is finally pursuing citizenship with the help of the Father Gary Graf Center.
About five years ago, the Catholic priest and former pastor of Most Blessed Trinity Parish in Waukegan and North Chicago helped found an immigration center in a former Catholic school building at 510 10th St. On Friday it was named in his honor.
» Click to enlarge image
Father Gary Graf speaks during the ribbon cutting and dedication of the Father Gary Graf Center.
(Thomas Delany Jr./News-Sun)
RELATED STORIES
⢠Photo gallery: Graf inauguration
Graf Center facts
For more information on the Father Gary Graf Center, 510 10th St., Waukegan, call (847) 775-0858.
Inauguration gallery
More photos at newssunonline.com
A quiet but busy presence on the Latino business-lined street that divides Waukegan and North Chicago, the center offers classes in English, GED, citizenship preparation and literacy. It has offered 555 free legal consultations, according to director Alicia Ibarra and, in 2008, 1,200 immigrants received matricula IDs and passports there through visits by the Mobile Mexican Consulate.
Garcia, who worked in a factory until a repetitive stress injury forced her to stop, is also studying English.
"When you don't speak English, it's hard to get a good job," she said through a translator.
Asked about her former priest, Garcia fought back tears.
"He is very loved here," she said, dabbing her eyes.
Graf, who was transferred to St. Gall Parish in Chicago, didn't want the building named after him, but parish staff, who have followed his vision for 15 years, ignored his protests.
"The people of God direct and carry out the heart of this mission," Graf told a small crowd gathered for the inauguration. "It's the work of the community, Catholic and far beyond Catholic. It is the result of the generosity of so many, many, many people."
Most Blessed Trinity pastor Rev. Dan Hartnett said the center's new name makes visible what so many to whom Graf ministered "carry inside."
"It's important to externalize the love and admiration we feel," Hartnett said. "His name on the building symbolizes our gratitude and reminds future generations of this extraordinary individual and the amazing things he accomplished here."
Graf and his parishioners advocated loudly for immigrants in 2007 after the city of Waukegan applied for federal authority to enforce immigration laws. When the Illinois Minutemen picketed his church, Graf invited them inside for coffee and doughnuts.
Graf also helped found a local Boys and Girls Club, expanded efforts to feed and clothe the area's poor, and offered a church building as a permanent shelter for the homeless.
In 2002, he made national headlines after he donated most of his liver to a dying parishioner.
Graf, 51, said "receiving the stranger" is an "inheritance that needs to be passed on."
"All of us are children of immigrants," he told the crowd. "I have not always been proud to be Catholic. I have not always been proud to be American. But the people who continue to come here by the hundreds of thousands remind me this is the greatest country on earth. Despite our frailties and mistakes, they continue to come and bless us. Someday we will all be judged on how well we took care of the stranger in our midst: the immigrant, the widow, the orphan, those most in need."
Graf and Hartnett took to the floor with costumed Mexican folk dancers, cut a ceremonial ribbon and praised the center's more than 100 volunteers during a luncheon. Recently painted murals in the center's dining area depict immigrants, arms outstretched, facing American shores.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/lifestyles/1896553,5_1_WA21_GRAF_S1-091121.article">http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... 21.article</a><!-- m -->
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - Busboy - 11-29-2009
She came here 20 years ago and just now she is starting to learn English? WTF?
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - wths74 - 12-08-2009
I guess one of Father Gary's legacies is that there will not be any masses on Christmas day in English at his former parish. Isn't that something. I have some relatives who belong at that parish and they feel they are being pushed out. Some are elderly and they don't want to go farther out to the other parishes. Many of them built those parishes. They continue to give money while the masses of parishioners give nothing but use the services. What would happen if the english speaking people said the heck with you and left to go to the other parishes?
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - Immigrant Daughter - 12-08-2009
after reading this, I instantly remembered why I haven't logged onto this site in a lonnnnnnng time...yech.
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - wths74 - 12-10-2009
Explain the yech if you could. I was talking about the long timers at the parish being offended. Not even being able to go to a Christmas mass in English. Somehow that is turned around to be offensive to someone else?
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - Danno - 12-11-2009
wths74 Wrote:Explain the yech if you could. I was talking about the long timers at the parish being offended. Not even being able to go to a Christmas mass in English. Somehow that is turned around to be offensive to someone else?Isn't the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel the one where God himself is responsible for the creation of the different languages? Maybe your god is the true offender of your sensibilities?
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - goodintentions - 12-11-2009
Not quite Danno - read the story... the Tower of Babel was not built for the worship and praise of God, but was instead dedicated to the glory of man, to "make a name" for the builders: "Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:4). Some believe that a vengeful God, seeing what the people were doing, came down and confused their languages and scattered the people throughout the earth.
So says Wikipedia...the various languages seems not to be a good thing... :o
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - Danno - 12-12-2009
goodintentions Wrote:Not quite Danno - read the story... the Tower of Babel was not built for the worship and praise of God, but was instead dedicated to the glory of man, to "make a name" for the builders: "Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:4). Some believe that a vengeful God, seeing what the people were doing, came down and confused their languages and scattered the people throughout the earth.Exactly my point. However based in myth it may be, the God of the book we know as the Old Testament was the responsible for the creation of all the different languages. What don't I get? I said nor meant anything in the context of worship and praise of god or man. My point was to show wths74 that the root cause of his/her concern, about a mass being said in a different language other than english, may be due to actions by his/her own god.
So says Wikipedia...the various languages seems not to be a good thing... :o
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - capt billy - 12-12-2009
English is the language of this country! Period
Re: Immigration center named for Father Gary, 10th street - sunny - 12-12-2009
No, there is no official language in the US. It may anger many but it is totally legal to speak another language. In order to be free we need to allow others their freedoms too.