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D.C. churches see a drop in attendance as congregants fear immigration action

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Tomorrow marks two weeks since President Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia, and houses of worship here are feeling a chilling effect. Last weekend, churches and neighborhoods with large numbers of immigrants reported drops in attendance. Now, many of them are facing another Sunday of uncertainty. To help us understand this, I'm joined by Aleja Hertzler-McCain from our partners at Religion News Service. Welcome to the program.

ALEJA HERTZLER-MCCAIN, BYLINE: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

RASCOE: A lot of church leaders have said this is already impacting their congregations. Can you tell us a bit about what happened last Sunday?

HERTZLER-MCCAIN: It was a bit of a mixed bag. In some churches with many immigrants, leaders told me attendance was pretty normal, but several other faith leaders said attendance was significantly down. One pastor told me that the church's WhatsApp groups were full of sightings of agents and immigration detentions and just a lot of fear. And that fear even extends to citizens and people with legal status because they say they're afraid of racial profiling. And some people say this kind of feels like the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with people stockpiling food and hiding at home. One Episcopal church even canceled their service last week.

RASCOE: For those congregations who really are feeling an effect, what's it been like for people in the pews? Has that fear changed things for them?

HERTZLER-MCCAIN: Yeah. In one Catholic parish with a large Central American population but also people from other parts of the world, the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, the pastor told me Mass attendance was down about 20%. That's 500 fewer people than normal. And one usher originally from Guatemala was detained just three blocks from the parish while walking to Mass last Sunday. And he's not the only one. The pastor told me at one point this week, there were seven parishioners in detention, some of them detained coming to and from church. There's also fear in the parish in other ways. One woman went in to pick up her final check at a job she's too scared to go to this week, and lay leader Sonia Aquino (ph) went with her. Here's what she had to say.

SONIA AQUINO: How can I say, oh, don't worry, everything is going to be fine, when you - the truth is that it's not that way? They can be caught anywhere, any way, any moment.

HERTZLER-MCCAIN: Aquino said for some people, this is shaking their faith, but she encourages them to remain strong.

RASCOE: I mean, this really sounds like a very challenging moment for the pastors and the church leaders who are trying to minister to congregants in crisis. How have they been handling this?

HERTZLER-MCCAIN: There are some really intense emotions right now. Congregation Action Network's executive director, Reverend Julio Hernandez, told me this.

JULIO HERNANDEZ: The grief is unbearable, the lament that we feel as a community. I feel like we are losing our humanity in this moment.

HERTZLER-MCCAIN: Reverend Hernandez told me some people are terrified because their loved ones are disappearing, and they can't even find them in the government locator for detention. And those feelings have a physical impact. Some people can't sleep or rest.

RASCOE: So how are churches navigating this Sunday's services?

HERTZLER-MCCAIN: Yeah, the churches I spoke to told me they're committed to meeting the needs of their members, whether they can make it to the building or not. That Catholic church I mentioned earlier is committed to moving forward with activities - you know, like a health fair today - because people who come in person still need services. Other faith leaders told me that they're making sure that people who are stuck at home get food. They're walking the streets to try to make other people feel more safe. They're setting up prayer vigils. And they're also ensuring or working to ensure that people in detention receive pastoral care, which isn't always possible.

RASCOE: That's Aleja Hertzler-McCain from Religion News Service. Thank you so much.

HERTZLER-MCCAIN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Aleja Hertzler-McCain
Ayesha Rascoe is a White House correspondent for NPR. She is currently covering her third presidential administration. Rascoe's White House coverage has included a number of high profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she's also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
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