ROCKFORD—Honoring their long-time commitment to helping Catholic and Lutheran organizations in need, the 20th Ecumenical Brunch featured Janet Biljeskovic, director of the refugee resettlement program for Catholic Charities in Rockford.

The annual brunch is co-sponsored by the Rockford Deanery Council of Catholic Women and the Northern Illinois Synodical Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.     

“They are here to get a life,” Biljeskovic said of the refugees she works with.

She, her husband and children, came to the United States in 1994 as refugees from the former Yugoslavia. She has worked with Catholic Charities since 1998 and took over as director of the resettlement program in 2013.

“Last year, we had 70,000-plus refugees coming into the United States and this year we could see 80,000 or more refugees enter the United States,” Biljeskovic said.

The higher number this year, she said, is partly due to the crisis in Syria.

She detailed the extensive and lengthy vetting process refugees must go through before they can enter the U.S.

Of the top 10 states receiving refugees in 2015, Illinois ranked ninth with 2,658 men, women and children. Of that number, about 300 ended up resettling in the Rockford Diocese.

“Rockford typically accepts 350 individual refugees in a year; however, as of Sept. 30 of this year, we have had 372 refugees resettle in Rockford,” Biljeskovic said.

In recent years, the majority of refugees resettling in Rockford have come from Burma and the Congo.     
Keeping families together is important, she says. Some refugees resettling in Rockford have other extended family already living here.

“We try to take families that have nine or less members, but sometimes they have other family here and we will accept families of up to 12 people,” she said. “We try to keep families together and feel that they will adjust better if they have family members to help them.”

“Our goal is to make refugees coming to Rockford self-sufficient as soon as possible,” Biljeskovic said. “We are not here to do for them, our job is to help them and show them how to do for themselves.”

Father Ken Stachyra, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish offered the opening prayer at the brunch while Pastor Jane McChesney offered the table grace. Msgr. Thomas Dzielak  presented a brief history of the luncheon.

Those attending brought personal care items for the refugee resettlement program.