ELIZABETH, N.J. — On a Sunday in March, the Rev. Canon Andy Moore looked out at the empty back-left pews at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, which had once been filled with Haitian immigrants. “We pray in a very special way for our Haitians who aren’t here at this service, stricken by fear,” he said, before breaking the Communion wafers.
Only a few months earlier, his Haitian parishioners were reviving the aging St. Elizabeth’s, whose choir had gone dormant. Nearly a dozen Haitians led the church in worship on Christmas Eve, singing “Mèsi Bondye”—thanking God in Haitian Creole. St. Elizabeth’s had helped many of them find housing, learn English and secure jobs in the U.S.
That morning, though, Haitian parishioners had good reason to stay home: Word had spread that immigration enforcement agents were gathering outside a nearby Wendy’s — two blocks from St. Elizabeth’s…