The Migrant Ministry of the Catholic Parishes of Oak Park has shifted its base of operations from St. Edmund School to the former school at St. Bernardine Parish in Forest Park.
The move was prompted by the planned sale of St. Edmund School, 200 S. Oak Park Ave., because the cost to heat and maintain the building wasn’t feasible, said Celine Woznica, one of the leaders of the Migrant Ministry, an interfaith coalition led by Oak Park’s Catholic parishes.
Woznica said the ministry has operated out of St. Edmund School since early 2024, serving approximately 15,000 migrants in its “free stores,” providing clothing, shoes, coats, bedding and toiletries, as well as serving breakfast and offering a children’s playroom.
It also offered English as a Second Language classes, social services in partnership with Rincon Family Services, and helped over 300 migrants complete their asylum applications, Woznica said. The ministry also helped migrants fill out work permits.
“Over 500 volunteers have donated their time to the Migrant Ministry in what has been an incredible interfaith effort involving many of the various Christian denominations in the Oak Park area, as well as members of both Jewish faith centers and Unity Temple,” she said. “Many volunteers do not follow any faith tradition but consider Migrant Ministry ‘their church.’”
Rev. Carl Morello, the pastor of Ascension and St. Edmund, along with St. Giles and St. Catherine-St. Lucy, which closed last summer, said Migrant Ministry’s move is bittersweet.
“It’s sad in this regard,” Morello said. “If I wasn’t in the position where we had to sell the school, the Migrant Ministry would still be there, and I’d like it to be in our backyard. The reality is, we can’t keep the school, so we’ll be taking the next step and selling it.
“We have discovered there is still a need. The group has continued to do what they can to help people, (and) to find another site in the Catholic community is a very positive thing.”
Morello added that he is working with the Archdiocese of Chicago to identify potential purchasers of St. Edmund School, but “it’s been a slow process.”
Woznica said that Migrant Ministry initially considered St. Bernardine School, which closed in 2013, but were told that the archdiocese was using it for offices and storage. That led to a potential home last fall at Boulevard Presbyterian, located at 607 Harvard St. in Oak Park, but then the space at St. Bernardine School became available – six large classrooms had been emptied to accommodate Migrant Ministry.
“We could not refuse this offer,” she said. “St. Bernardine’s is less than a block off the Blue Line, so more easily accessible to the migrants. The school offers more than twice the space we were offered at Boulevard Presbyterian. It has a parking lot, making it easier for our volunteers to park right next to the building.”
She added that, “We are so grateful to Boulevard Presbyterian for their initial offer of a space and celebrate the interfaith aspect of this ministry. It’s truly been a blessing.”
Morello, who graduated eighth grade from St. Bernardine School, said he sees a bit of divine intervention in the fact that the space became open.
“All politics aside, these are people in great need,” he said. “The scriptures are all about that. We’re giving flesh to what our Catholic values are. And that’s important.
“The other thing that has really happened, this has been a means of drawing people from other denominations and people that have no affiliation, they are helping because that’s what they are called to do. It’s humanitarian.”
