Father David Kiblinger, SJ, brings pastoral compassion to migrants in detention.
By Rachel Amiri
Father David Kiblinger, SJ, a doctoral student in theology at Saint Louis University, is preparing to write his dissertation on Pope Francis’ contribution to the social teaching of the Church. He is also living out his own response to that teaching as he ministers to migrants being held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.
“Pope Francis has been really inspirational,” said Fr. Kiblinger, who was ordained a priest in 2022. “I think he was insightful in pushing the Church to look at the problem of exclusion and to form us as a people. One of the things about our spiritual formation is becoming aware of what’s going on in our area. Who are the people who are excluded from the typical structures of society around here? So, my studies have led me to do this.”
When a call went out that Spanish-speaking priests were needed to visit with migrants held in detention, Fr. Kiblinger “felt a strong pull” to the work. Fluent in Spanish since his Jesuit regency in Puerto Rico, he was connected to the ministry through his work on the Peace and Justice Commission for the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the nonprofit organization Abide in Love.
Abide in Love was launched in mid-2025 to respond to increased immigration enforcement actions by meeting the basic human needs of detained migrants and their families. One of those needs is compassionate spiritual and pastoral care.
Father Kiblinger is one of about ten archdiocesan and religious community priests who regularly visit the migrants at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center during the four hours a week that are available for pastoral visits. During the winter, he made the drive down to Ste. Genevieve weekly; now he visits one Monday each month.
“It’s actually quite limited,” he says of the time migrants are allowed to meet with spiritual counselors.
The jail has “no-contact” restrictions in place for visitors, including clergy, so Fr. Kiblinger cannot bring the sacraments to any of the up to 400 individuals who can be held in federal detention there.
“We’re not having Mass; we’re not doing the sacraments; we’re not anointing,” he said.
“It’s like you see in the movies: there’s the wall of glass and the phone, so you speak through the glass on the phone,” he said of the way he meets with the detainees.
In this way, he has one-on-one conversations with Spanish-speaking migrants who have asked to see a priest. Most of the detainees are young men from Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Honduras or Guatemala. Many have young children and are concerned about what’s going to happen to their families in their absence.
“These are people who have homes, who are working, who own businesses,” Fr. Kiblinger said. “I typically start with a prayer and tell them, ‘I can pray, I can listen, whatever you’d like to do.’ Some people are really struggling, and I want to offer an opportunity to allow them to vent.”
Often the conversations turn to family.
“I talked to a man whose child had been born that very morning, which was, obviously, a really difficult thing for him to be processing,” Fr. Kiblinger said.
He also tries to help them find a purpose or a project to occupy them during their indefinite time in detention. He asks them, “What’s something that you can do to make this time productive in your relationship with God, especially?”
Uncertainty hangs over many of his conversations. But often, Fr. Kiblinger said, the upheaval and suffering that arise in the face of deportation bring renewed faith.
“They can kind of see God’s plan in all this, like it’s brought a time for reconnecting with God,” he added.
Father Kiblinger also observes the impact of detention on the migrants’ mental health. Many just want to be free of the uncertainty of the situation and choose self-deportation due to the conditions in the jail and the inability to provide for their families while incarcerated.
When specific needs and requests arise during his conversations, Fr. Kiblinger brings them to Abide in Love, which then tries to connect the detainee or his or her family with the basic human services or legal representation they need.
Father Kiblinger typically sees three to six people during a three-hour visit. Sometimes, detainees who have requested to see a priest on Saturday will already be moved to another facility by the time he arrives on Monday afternoon.
Even though the people in federal detention in St. Genevieve have not been found guilty of any crime, the rules of the ICE detention center are more restrictive than what Fr. Kiblinger dealt with at the Belize Central Prison during his pastoral assignment at St. Martin de Porres Parish in Belize City. He regularly celebrated Sunday Mass at the prison and was allowed to offer the sacraments of initiation to the incarcerated men.
“I was able to celebrate a beautiful Holy Thursday Mass, complete with the washing of the feet at the prison in Belize. I would love for the situation here to be more like that, where we could have more contact – especially sacramental contact,” Fr. Kiblinger said.
That hope is rooted in his calling as a Jesuit and ordained minister. But he sees in this moment an opportunity for all Christians to discern how they are called to respond to exclusion in their communities. Of his own ministry, he said simply: “This is important.”
The Very Rev. Thomas P. Greene, SJ, provincial, offered a prayer outside of the Ste. Genevieve federal detention facility on March 7, 2026. Download it here.
