On May 12th when federal officials raided an Iowa food processing factory, people seeking sanctuary began trickling to Pottsville St. Bridget’s, the local Catholic Church for sanctuary, and a 75 year old priest came out of retirement to help his parishoners and community he had served for 45 years.

By the time Father Ouderkirk extricated himself and reached Postville in the evening, nearly 400 people filled the rotunda and social hall of St. Bridget. They occupied every pew, every aisle, every folding chair, every inch of floor. Children clutched mothers. One girl shook uncontrollably.

A few volunteers from the old Postville, descendants of the Irish and Norwegian immigrants who settled here more than a century ago, set out food. Others took turns standing watch at the church door, as if the sight of an Anglo might somehow dissuade the feared Migra, as the immigrants call Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from invading their sanctuary.

Already, members of the church staff and a Spanish teacher from a nearby college were tallying the names of the detained workers. Father Ouderkirk conducted his own version of a census. Gone were all but two members of the choir he had assembled over the years. Gone was all but one of the eight altar servers. Gone were the husbands from the weddings he had performed, and gone were the fathers of the children he had baptized.

As for the mothers, many of them also worked at Agriprocessors and had been arrested. In a putative show of compassion, federal authorities released them after putting an electronic homing device on each woman’s ankle to monitor her whereabouts.