Cardinal Blase Cupich, Rainbow PUSH deliver Christmas Mass messages at Cook County Jail

More than 150 Cook County jail detainees spent Christmas morning singing, clapping and cheering as faith leaders offered religious messages of positivity.

The services kicked off with messages from Cardinal Blase Cupich that emphasized hope, unity and community.

Jesus “is present in the way that you relate to one another and the way that you help each other along the journey of life,” Cupich, who leads the Archdiocese of Chicago, told roughly 50 inmates during his homily at a chapel in Division 11 of the jail. “Each one of our stories, each one of our lives, are important to God. Our lives are not defined by the errors we make but rather by the fact that the Lord is with us.”

Cupich, who was leading his 10th Christmas Mass at the jail, said he keeps coming back to ensure the detainees “don’t ever think they’re forgotten.”

“We want to make sure that they’re supported and that they have a spark of encouragement,” Cupich told reporters after the service. “They’re part of our lives, they have families like everyone else, and I think it’s important for them to connect with the broader society through an effort like this.”

Shortly after the first Mass of the morning, more than 100 other pre-trial detainees were gathered inside an auditorium at Division 4 as members of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition held its yearly service.

For the first time in the roughly 50 years the coalition has done services at the jail, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who was recently hospitalized for treatment of a neurological condition, wasn’t in attendance, but his son Rep. Jonathan Jackson stressed it was important to continue representing the coalition’s mission to “honor the tradition of taking our church outside the stain-glassed walls of a sanctuary.”

During the service, one woman wiped away tears after learning the coalition had paid her bond and that she’d be released Thursday.

“All of these persons in here came from somewhere. They have loved ones, they have families,” Jackson said. “They come from hurt circumstances, so to give them a sense of hope [that] this is temporary, they will be leaving here and they can have a fresh start.”

Jackson — one of several religious leaders who were turned away from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview Christmas Eve morning after attempting to enter and pray with detainees — said President Donald Trump’s administration was “willfully defying the law” when it comes to giving detainees access to religious services.

“People in death row can have visitors from people in the ministry, but people are denied access to the religious services in the detention facilities,” Jackson said. “I went there as a member of Congress and got in. I went there with [religious leaders] and was denied.”

Olivia Riddle, a volunteer coordinator with the Kolbe House Jail Ministry who was at Cupich’s service and helps conduct Bible studies and prayer groups with inmates, wanted jailed individuals to know they’re being thought of by those beyond the jail’s walls.

“That’s the most important thing — to see someone face to face and say, ‘We’re thinking about you, we’re praying for you, we’re with you and we love you,’” Riddle said.