Chicago Cardinal Cupich celebrates Christmas Mass with detainees

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich spent Christmas morning with detainees at the Cook County Jail, telling them during Mass they were not alone, not forgotten.

“Any time that we, in our life, have felt, no matter our circumstances, as though we’ve been overlooked or told that we don’t matter or that we’re second-class citizens, this feast is for us,” he told the gathered men.

The Monday morning service was one of a dozen Christmas Masses at the jail this year organized by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s jail ministry, Kolbe House. It is an annual event for Cupich, who was scheduled afterward to eat lunch with jail detainees who are part of a job skills and mentoring program called “Recipe for Change.”

[ Cardinal Cupich visits Cook County Jail inmates for Christmas Mass: ‘There’s goodness in each of us. … All of us fail’ ]

What comes after jail was also a focus for those who planned the Christmas Mass.

Mark McCombs, executive director of Kolbe House, said he hoped the…