WASHINGTON (RNS) — Hundreds of people attended a Good Friday procession (April 18) at Our Lady Queen of the Americas Catholic Church, surprising even parish staff with the turnout at the largely immigrant congregation.
Across the United States, churches with many immigrant congregants have reported lower attendance since President Donald Trump promised mass deportations and his administration removed restrictions on immigration arrests at houses of worship. But Lilian Cifuentes, director of religious education at Our Lady Queen of the Americas, said Mass attendance has increased at the church since Trump moved into the White House, a mile and a half from the parish in the Kalorama Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The parish’s pastor, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, has been an outspoken advocate for immigrants, in part because of his own experience arriving in the U.S. at age 19 without legal status after fleeing violence in El Salvador.
After walking in the procession, Menjivar-Ayala, now a U.S. citizen, celebrated a Mass at the archdiocesan cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. His homily echoed an op-ed he wrote last week for the archdiocesan newspaper in which he argued immigrant communities in America are experiencing the Passion, the suffering Jesus Christ experienced during the final events of his life.
“The Passion of Christ is not something that is very far from the reality that many people live today, especially immigrants, who experience in a tangible and personal way, the Passion of Christ — facing daily fear, humiliation, a priori condemnation without the possibility of legitimate defense,” the bishop said in Spanish. “We meditate on Christ’s Passion not because we are sadomasochists, but because it brings us comfort, resilience, strength and hope to those of us who are also carrying the cross to know we are loved by God.”
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, right, uses incense during a Good Friday procession, April 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
He urged worshippers, “Unify your sufferings with those of Christ, and you will see that you will receive peace, rest and above all, the forgiveness of your sins.”
In the face of challenges immigrants face today, the bishop told the Mass attendees to be sensitive to the sufferings of others, including those dealing with depression, illness or loneliness, encouraging them to follow the example of the women and John who stayed with Jesus when he was crucified.
“Stop thinking just about your problems,” Menjivar-Ayala preached. “When you become part of a community, fear becomes farther away and hope emerges and is born again.”
In his op-ed assessing the U.S. political situation, the bishop drew on his childhood in El Salvador.
“Many of us from other lands recognize all too well the terror of people being snatched by secret police and disappeared,” Menjivar-Ayala wrote, noting the detention of Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University detained after her visa was revoked without her knowledge. She said in a court document she believed the plainclothes federal agents who detained her were abducting her and were going to kill her.
Cifuentes said she believes attendance has risen at Our Lady Queen of the Americas because congregants’ “faith is more powerful, more strong” than what they’re reading in the news. She also said their faith is strengthened by the support of Menjivar-Ayala and the parish’s other leaders.
“That’s why I think they don’t feel afraid. They feel like they have a family, and somebody is going to be with them if something happened,” she said.
Catholics venerate a relic of the Crown of Thorns before a procession at Our Lady Queen of the Americas Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., April 18, 2025. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
At the parish’s procession, among the crowd were about 50 members of the increasingly popular Catholic youth movement, Hakuna, whose recently established D.C. chapter was hosting a visiting international group.
“It’s very beautiful to see how the Catholic soul feels the same everywhere,” said the Rev. Miguel García Manglano, a Spanish priest doing youth ministry with the group, in Spanish.
Another out-of-town visitor at the procession, Isaac Bermúdez, called Menjivar-Ayala “a very kind bishop, a spectacular bishop, a bishop who smells like a pastor.”
Menjivar-Ayala’s message resonated with Bermúdez, a seminarian who was born in the U.S. but grew up in Nicaragua.
Participants end a Good Friday procession at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, April 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
“Immigrants are people who come here to work, but they come here to suffer, too,” he said. “They come here to suffer hunger. They come here to suffer inequality. But nonetheless, they always have that faith that is created in our Latin American countries.”
A Lenten focus on immigrants has been part of Stations of the Cross observations throughout North America. Back in February, the Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province released a Stations of the Cross guide sharing stories of individual migrants. Dominican University in the Chicago area, the Kino Border Initiative across the border in Nogales, Mexico, and a group in Boston all prayed migration-focused Stations of the Cross throughout Lent or on Good Friday.
But Menjivar-Ayala encouraged Catholics not to spend too much time crying on Calvary.
“The cross, evil, cruelty do not have the final word,” he said. “Even in the gloom of the moment, we can say with certainty, Christ has defeated death.”
Participants carry a statue of Jesus during a Good Friday procession in Washington, D.C., April 18, 2025. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)