On Oct. 11, Father Larry Dowling led a Eucharistic procession of approximately 1,000 priests, nuns, and laypeople to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois.
The stated intent was to bring the Eucharist to detained migrants; a gesture rooted in the Catholic call to minister to the marginalized. Yet, the procession, set against a backdrop of chaotic protests, arrests, and escalating tensions over federal immigration enforcement in nearby Chicago, has ignited a debate among Catholics. Was this a genuine act of faith, or did it risk reducing the Eucharist, the body of Christ, to a political tool?
The Eucharist on public display in a procession is a powerful witness to Christ’s love, but it demands reverence and intentionality.
When the group arrived at the Broadview ICE facility, they requested permission to bring the monstrance inside to share the Eucharist with detainees. Federal officials, via state troopers, denied the request, despite the clergy’s claim of notifying ICE in advance. Father Dowling’s subsequent statement that “evil recoils” in Christ’s presence, while reflecting his conviction, framed the event in confrontational terms, risking the perception that the Eucharist was being wielded as a symbolic weapon in a broader immigration dispute.
This perception is particularly fraught given the context. The Broadview facility has been a flashpoint for protests against the Trump administration’s Chicago-area operations.
Previous protests at the Broadview facility have led to federal agents being accused of aggressive tactics, including the use of tear gas as evidenced by a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis on Oct. 9.
In this charged environment, the Eucharistic procession’s alignment with ongoing protests risks overshadowing its spiritual purpose. Catholic critics argue that the Eucharist must not be instrumentalized. They contrasted the Broadview event with quieter ministries, such as Bishop Michael Olson’s baptisms and confirmations of incarcerated women in Texas or the Archdiocese of Miami’s sacramental outreach to ICE detainees. These efforts, conducted without spectacle, reflect the Church’s mission to bring Christ to the suffering while safeguarding the sanctity of the sacraments.
The broader context in Chicago underscores the complexity. Cardinal Blase Cupich, in a statement on Oct. 14, emphasized that national security and human dignity are not mutually exclusive, decrying “unnecessarily aggressive tactics” by federal agents that “seem to terrorize and cause chaos.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that the Eucharist is “the memorial of Christ’s Passover,” a sacred act of worship, not a tool for political leverage. When a Eucharistic procession occurs in a setting that could be perceived as protest, especially amid tear gas and pepper balls, as Father Brendan Curran described, it risks being misconstrued as a political statement, even if unintended.
The Church must ask: How do we ensure that our sacred rituals remain distinct from the optics of political activism? How do we balance prophetic witness with the reverence owed to the Eucharist?
The Chicago situation demands discernment. The plight of migrants, as Cardinal Cupich and others emphasize, calls for compassionate action. Yet, when the Eucharist is carried into a volatile public square, its sacredness risks being overshadowed by political optics.
As Catholics, we must strive to bring Christ to those in need, while ensuring our actions honor the Eucharist’s transcendence.