Notre Dame Sister Marilyn Medinger might not have the kind of story that people would expect from an advocate of allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain temporary drivers’ licenses in Illinois.

Sister Marilyn, 74, was driving her seven-year-old Toyota Prius north on Sheridan Road at about 4:30 in the afternoon on Oct. 14, a Sunday. As she traveled through the 6700 block, headed toward Pratt Avenue, a car in the southbound lanes crossed the center line.

“All of the sudden I was looking at headlights and of course he hit me,” said Medinger, whose car was totaled and who is still receiving therapy for a dislocated elbow she suffered in the crash. She spent a night in the hospital and received a statement that costs were $28,000 before Medicare stepped in and handled it. The other driver, an undocumented immigrant without a license or insurance, also was hospitalized, she said, and she doesn’t know whether his passengers needed medical care.

Medinger has long been an advocate for immigration reform and who offers pastoral care to immigrants being detained in McHenry County. She knows that many, if not most, undocumented immigrants drive without the benefit of a license because it’s the only way they can get to work or school. She joined the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and Immigration Education and other groups in Nov. 28 lobby day in Springfield to ask legislators to allow undocumented immigrants to use temporary driver’s licenses in the state of Illinois.

“We need people driving safely,” Medinger said. “We need them to be educated in our driving laws and to allow them to purchase insurance.”

The Illinois Senate agreed with her on Dec. 4, voting 41-14 with one “present” in favor of allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for temporary driver’s licenses.

If the driver who hit her had been able to obtain a license, Medinger said, he might have been more familiar with the rules of the road and avoided the crash entirely. Barring that, if he’d had a license and was able to buy insurance, she’d have a better chance at replacing her car with another Prius, because she loved the one she had.

Several dozen members of Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants and Priests for Justice for Immigrants also made the trip, and reported a positive response from legislators.

The Illinois bishops came out in support of the idea Nov. 13, and it also has won support from a group calling itself the Highway Safety Coalition, which includes representatives of a number of law enforcement agencies; Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Fourteenth Ward Alderman Edward M. Burke also supports the temporary driver’s license proposal. Burke, the chairman of the City Council Committee on Finance, was honored at the noon Mass Dec. 2 at St. Gall Parish, 5500 S. Kedzie Ave., for his work on immigration reform.

Burke sponsored Chicago’s landmark ordinance that recognizes matricula consular cards as valid identification and has allowed undocumented immigrants since 2002 to utilize city services and report crimes without fear of deportation.

Temporary driver’s licenses now are available to visitors to Illinois who have proper documents but not permanent residency. They are good for three years and are valid for driving purposes only, not for identification or other purposes. Undocumented immigrants would be able to get them with an IRSissued Tax Identification Number — which undocumented immigrants can use to pay federal taxes— a passport from another country; or a consular identification card.

Having such a license would allow undocumented immigrants to travel the roads and highways without fear that a traffic stop — for having a break light out, say, or failing to signal a turn — could lead to their deportation and possibly permanent separation from their families.

“What hurts one family hurts our entire community, for the family is the building block of society,” said Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois. “Yet too many of our immigrant families have been torn apart by the simple act of driving.”

Those who don’t drive also suffer, Gilligan said.

“When our undocumented immigrant brothers and sisters are denied the ability to drive legally, their access to healthcare, to an education, to practicing their faith, and to work is greatly hindered. Thus, their quality of life is simply compromised,” Gilligan said.

Immigration advocates believe now might be the time for such a measure, as Republicans, who have been more likely to oppose immigration reform efforts, lost ground in the November elections, especially among Latinos. Several Republican leaders have talked about the need to reach out to their Latino constituents, and this would be one way to do it.

If a bill allowing undocumented immigrants access to temporary driver’s licenses does not pass in this month’s veto sessions, it could pass next year as more Democratic lawmakers are seated.

“I would say it’s a very opportune time,” said Father Robert Oldershaw, pastor emeritus of St. Nicholas Parish in Evanston, who also joined the group on Nov. 28. “We have a very significant Latino population [at St. Nicholas]. People are starting to recognize the demography. There are an awful lot of young people, and they are growing up awfully fast.”

In any case, the Catholic lobbyists got a warm welcome, said Christian Brother Bede Baldry.

“Judging by the ones we saw, it would pass,” Brother Bede said.

He said that trying to help people is simply the Catholic thing to do. “If a person has a need, and helping them doesn’t hurt somebody else, I want to help them,” he said.