[Excerpt:]

An Oklahoma faith leader has asked the Trump administration to allow clergy inside immigration detention centers to offer pastoral care for detainees.

Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told a group of local parishioners that the request was among the issues he discussed during a high-profile meeting with President Donald Trump in January. At a recent gathering at Little Flower Catholic Church, Coakley shared several details about the meeting, which included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem…

Voices Organized In Civic Engagement, known as VOICE-OKC, hosted the gathering at Little Flower to give immigrant parishioners an opportunity to speak directly to Coakley and to hear from him as their archbishop and the president of an influential coalition of American bishops based in Washington, D.C. The Rev. Tim Luschen, pastor of Little Flower, is one of VOICE-OKC's founding members.

An estimated crowd of 200 listened to three immigrants from mixed-status households — families that include both documented and undocumented members — tell how the federal government's immigration enforcement crackdown has affected them and their families and altered life in their local neighborhoods.…

Poignant testimonies were shared, including that of a grandmother who described the moment her 7-year-old grandson begged her not to step out of their car at a fuel station.

"No quiero que te lleven — I don't want them to take you," she recalled him saying.

The woman said her grandson's words saddened her.

"It splits my soul to live what is happening under this presidency," she said. "How can a boy live with this anguish in silence? A boy should only study, play and be happy and not live in this fear."...

"We want you to know that we as your shepherds, we as your bishops, we as your pastors, know what you are suffering," Coakley told the crowd. "We hear your voices."....The bishops, Coakley said, think the time has come to fix the nation's immigration system.

"One of the points that has been made to President Trump and to many government officials is that the borders of the United States have never been more secure than they are right now," he said. "So, now is the time — and there is no excuse to delay in enacting meaningful immigration reform."

Coakley said he wanted to assure attendees that ways to resolve the current situation were being considered…

The religious leader said he received a "sign of hope" in the form of a phone call as he was about to board a plane leaving Washington. He said during his meeting with Trump, the president had said that he didn't see why clergy should find it so difficult to gain access to this country if they come here to serve American people.

"I received a phone call that the president had changed the rule that now permits a more generous distribution of our religious worker visas that will enable at least religious workers who are serving our parishes and communities around the country to have smoother and easier access to their ministry here in this country.".….

Luschen, Little Flower pastor and one of the VOICE-OKC founders, said he was pleased that his church was able to offer immigrants a safe space to share their personal stories.

"To be able to tell their stories in their church — their joys, their sorrows — that is what a church community should be about," he said. "If we can't do that, we have to ask what kind of church are we."

'It Splits my Soul,' Immigrants, Archbishop Discuss Immigration Crackdown, The Oklahoman [pdf]