It is striking that Maria has been in Waukegan for 20 years and has only now decided to learn English. It is also telling how Maria can live hear for 20 years and not need to learn English.



Immigration center named for Father Gary
Former longtime pastor 'very loved here'


November 21, 2009
By JUDY MASTERSON jmasterson@scn1.com

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.


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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.

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