- October 7, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT: Colleen Kelly, Mission Promotion and Information Management Administrator, 314.761.7428 | [email protected]
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Support Archdiocese of St. Louis Lawsuit Defending the Religious Liberty of Detained Catholics
ST. LOUIS – The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province stands with the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski and Fr. Chris Schroeder in the federal lawsuit they filed Oct. 5 to defend the religious liberty of Catholics held at the Ste. Genevieve Detention Center, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Priests who go to minister at the detention center are not permitted to hear confessions, offer Communion or celebrate Mass, and clergy visits are limited to four hours a week. Lawyers and consular officials are allowed far more access. The Church is not asking for special treatment, only the same access, so that priests can bring the sacraments to the people who are asking for them.
In March, our sisters joined representatives of the Archdiocese, other religious congregations and people of faith at a prayer vigil outside the jail. For men and women facing the hardest days of their lives, separated from their families, often far from home and uncertain of what comes next, the loss of the sacraments imposes real and immediate harm. Access to the sacraments is a matter of religious liberty and human dignity, and it should not end at a jail door.
“Our congregation was founded to move always toward love of God and love of neighbor without distinction,” says Sister Maureen Freeman, CSJ on behalf of the St. Louis Province Leadership Team. “The dear neighbor in detention is no less our neighbor. We are grateful to Archbishop Rozanski, Father Schroeder and the Archdiocese for taking this stand, and to the volunteers, sisters, priests and pen pals who have been showing up at Ste. Genevieve all along. As our bishops have said to our immigrant families: you are not alone.”
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About the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet are a congregation of Catholic sisters, motivated in all things by profound love of God and the dear neighbor. Since our first sisters gathered in 1650, our members have been called to “do all things of which women are capable.” The first sisters of our congregation arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1836, and we now have additional locations throughout the continental United States, including Hawai’i, Japan and Peru.