WASHINGTON, D.C. – A large crowd of church members walked in a procession from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart to the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle on Sunday, reading scripture and sharing the stories of immigrants.
They were there to show support for migrants scared for their safety right now, said Bridget Cusick, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA’s vice president of marketing and communications.
“You know, people are very, very frightened right now,” said Cusick. “It seems like we’re constantly seeing videos taken by people on the street on their cell phones that are really frightening. And they are leading a lot of people to feel very destabilized and scared.”
The event marked the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. It was an advance celebration of the Jubilee of Migrants, which was declared by Pope Francis in 2024 and will occur in early October, according to Cusick.
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA organized the procession along with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. The archdiocese held a mass afterward at the cathedral.
During the procession, more than a mile long, the group stopped several times to hear recitations of scripture, papal readings and the stories of immigrants.
Father Emilio Biosca Agüero of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart said the church’s congregation has been affected by fears of detainment and deportation. The church has a high immigrant population, he told Capital News Service.
“People are generally really afraid,” the pastor said. “They’re afraid to come to church, they’re afraid to go into D.C.”
“Some of them are able to go to some churches in Maryland,” he went on, “and some are just too afraid to go out, because either relatives or friends of theirs have been detained and stopped.”
Kate Sugarman, a doctor in the district, said she came to the procession because she believes in justice for immigrants.
Sugarman said she works in Columbia Heights, where many of her patients are immigrants.
“They’re just living in fear,” Sugarman said.
