The Archdiocese of St. Louis has filed a lawsuit against the federal government alleging that a local immigration detention facility in Missouri is preventing priests from administering the sacraments to detainees.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, SE Division against high ranking members of the Department of Homeland Security and the local sheriff.

The lawsuit alleges that that priests are only allowed to visit detainees during a four-hour window on Mondays and priests have to speak to them through a glass partition.

The lawsuit concerns Ste. Genevieve Detention Center which has a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) so that it holds federal immigration detainees.

“The Ste. Genevieve Detention Center currently prohibits Catholic priests from offering, and Catholic detainees from receiving, the sacraments of confession and communion. Priests are also not permitted to say Mass. Offering and receiving these sacraments is a central tenet of our faith,” a statement from the archdiocese said.

“Catholics receive the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the deprivation of these sacraments imposes real and immediate harm on Catholic detainees and priests,” the statement said.

“Moreover, the jail limits the hours that clergy may visit the imprisoned (4 hours a week), meaning that the spiritual care priests can provide is severely restricted and, for some detainees, nonexistent,” it added.

The archdiocese went on to request that priests are given the same visiting priviliges as lawyers and consular officials.

“The Archdiocese asked the jail to accommodate clergy to provide the sacraments to detainees, but the jail has refused. That refusal is troubling, given that other individuals—including lawyers and consular officials—are permitted to visit detained individuals under much more permissive circumstances,” the statement explained.

“The Catholic Church does not seek special treatment, but only requests the same access as these other groups which, if provided, would allow clergy to offer the Catholic sacraments detainees desperately want,” it added.

Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of St Louis offered more reasoning behind the move.

“As a bishop I am responsible for every soul in my archdiocese, and that includes those who are in the prisons,” he told Reuters.

“They cannot hear confessions, they cannot celebrate Mass, they cannot give ‌the ⁠anointing of the sick to any of the detainees,” he added, which was “robbing the detainees of their rights to have access to these sacraments.”

A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security refuted the claims made in the lawsuit in a statement on Tuesday.

“These allegations are false,” the spokesperson said.

“This is a non-contact county jail, not an ICE facility. Detainees are given the opportunity to practice their religions. County restrictions on physical contact do not mean religious services are denied. DHS has done its due diligence,” they added.

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