An Illinois diocese is launching a volunteer legal services program
for the poor in need of legal counsel for civil matters, its bishop
announced.
“I have seen first-hand how civil legal aid can be a lifeline that
enables families to save their home from foreclosure or eviction,
recover back wages from an employer, secure disability benefits or
provide protection in domestic violence situations,” said Bishop Thomas
Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., to the State Journal-Register, a local
newspaper.
“This program goes to the heart of preserving human dignity and empowering people to gain control of their lives again.”
The new program, called Caritas Legal Services, will link a panel of
volunteer lawyers with persons in need across the diocese to provide
free assistance for civil matters to those who cannot afford it.
The launch of the program was announced at the diocese's annual Red Mass
for the members of its Catholic Lawyers Guild on Oct. 14 in
Springfield, Ill.
The new program is backed with the support of a number
of Catholic and non-Catholic attorneys, as well as $1.5 million in seed
money donated to the diocese.
Bishop Paprocki, who is a lawyer himself, explained that the new program
will not “dump a bunch of cases” on each lawyer who volunteers, but
will limit the volunteer workload to around two cases per year.
The bishop added that he expected the program to be self-supporting
through the investment of donations in its Lex Cordis – or “law of the
heart” – Endowment.
The program will not provide services to criminal cases, instead “giving
a voice to the voiceless and empowering the powerless,” who need legal
help in navigating custody, disability, adoption, immigration, rent,
eviction, domestic violence and other civil laws.
The bishop explained to the State Journal-Register that the diocese is
creating this program because it “is fundamentally unfair and unjust to
deprive the poor of the legal protection for their lives that wealthy
persons enjoy.”
The program will work alongside other legal services to help the poor in
the area gain access to free legal aid.
Bishop Paprocki stressed that
Caritas Legal Services will not work against or “take volunteer
attorneys away” from existing legal aid organizations, such as the Land
of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, but instead will work with them.
“It has been my experience that the legal needs of the poor are so great, you can never have enough services,” he emphasized.