{"id":25319,"date":"2026-06-23T04:49:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/haitian-immigrants-revived-a-church-now-the-pews-are-empty\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T04:49:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:19:06","slug":"haitian-immigrants-revived-a-church-now-the-pews-are-empty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/haitian-immigrants-revived-a-church-now-the-pews-are-empty\/","title":{"rendered":"Haitian immigrants revived a church. Now the pews are empty."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_gaN16t5z3rK?client=wp&amp;client_version=3.2.3\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>ELIZABETH, N.J. \u2014 On a Sunday in March, the Rev. Canon Andy Moore looked out at the empty back-left pews at St. Elizabeth\u2019s Episcopal Church, which had once been filled with Haitian immigrants. \u201cWe pray in a very special way for our Haitians who aren\u2019t here at this service, stricken by fear,\u201d he said, before breaking the Communion wafers. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Only a few months earlier, his Haitian parishioners were reviving the aging St. Elizabeth\u2019s, whose choir had gone dormant. Nearly a dozen Haitians led the church in worship on Christmas Eve, singing \u201cM\u00e8si Bondye\u201d\u2014thanking God in Haitian Creole. St. Elizabeth\u2019s had helped many of them find housing, learn English and secure jobs in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That morning, though, Haitian parishioners had good reason to stay home: Word had spread that immigration enforcement agents were gathering outside a nearby Wendy\u2019s \u2014 two blocks from St. Elizabeth\u2019s. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last November, the Trump administration announced it <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/04\/17\/house-pass-bill-to-protect-haitians-temporary-protected-status\/\">sought to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for <\/a>Haitians,\u00a0and fears of arrest among Haitian immigrants soared in New Jersey and across the country, as mass deportation efforts were underway. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging the revocation of TPS in April and is set to rule on the fate of\u00a0some\u00a0330,000\u00a0affected Haitians by late June.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle, in Boston\u2019s Mattapan neighborhood, parishioners deliver groceries to two dozen Haitians who fear leaving their homes to come to the church\u2019s food pantry. Three hundred people used to gather there on a Sunday. Now Bishop Nicholas Homicil, the church\u2019s lead pastor, estimates about 80% stay home. Across the Southern Baptist Conference\u2019s National Haitian Fellowship, with over 500 churches nationwide, there has been an average 30% decline in attendance, according to the Rev. Keny Felix, president of the fellowship and senior pastor at Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church in Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Moore\u2019s efforts to bring Haitians back to St. Elizabeth\u2019s have proven unsuccessful. A donated minivan to shuttle Haitian immigrants to and from church required more repairs than the church could afford, and the two drivers \u2014 both Haitian immigrants \u2014 began feeling unsafe themselves. A WhatsApp group chat, called \u201cHaitian ministry,\u201d <span style=\"color: #27272a;\">where\u00a0a church member translated Moore\u2019s messages offering rides from English to Creole, found few takers<\/span>. \u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"pull-quote wp-block-rns-pull-quote\">\n<blockquote><p>Even with Zoom, they are afraid. They say they don\u2019t want to be tracked.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><cite>A church member who requested the pseudonym Roseline for fear of immigration enforcement<\/cite><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThey said no, they don\u2019t want to come over,\u201d said the church member, who requested the pseudonym Roseline for fear of immigration enforcement. \u201cEven with Zoom, they are afraid. They say they don\u2019t want to be tracked.\u201d Then she corrected herself. \u201cWe are afraid, not \u2018they.\u2019 We are afraid.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Haitians were first granted TPS in 2010 after an earthquake killed over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ngdc.noaa.gov\/hazel\/view\/hazards\/earthquake\/event-more-info\/8732\">220,000 people<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/results\/2021\/10\/12\/strengthening-disaster-risk-management-and-transport-infrastructure-after-a-disaster-the-2010-haiti-post-earthquake-expe\">displaced 1.5 million<\/a>. Protections have been repeatedly extended as Haiti has experienced a succession of crises. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The fear spreading through Haitian communities in the U.S. now is inseparable from what drove them to flee Haiti in the first place.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4265284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 640px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/22\/the-biggest-blow-to-my-ministry-a-pastor-watches-as-fearful-haitian-immigrants-flee-church\/webrns-rev-canon-andy-moore-video-20260622\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4265284\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4265284 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-video-20260622-807x452.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-video-20260622-807x452.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-video-20260622-427x239.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-video-20260622-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-video-20260622-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-video-20260622-600x336.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-video-20260622.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Rev. Canon Andy Moore introduces himself and St. Elizabeth\u2019s Episcopal Church. Video Screengrab<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One St. Elizabeth\u2019s parishioner told RNS that she held leadership roles at her Pentecostal church in Cit\u00e9 Soleil, one of Port-au-Prince\u2019s most violent neighborhoods. Then gang violence destroyed her husband\u2019s trucking business, and a shootout burned down her childhood home in May 2023. A few months later, she and her husband, with their 1-year-old in tow, crossed Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, landing in Texas before making their way to New Jersey.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They found St. Elizabeth\u2019s in April 2024, through an English class St. Elizabeth\u2019s offered. Moore quickly realized they were \u201cpractically homeless.\u201d The church put them up in a hotel until they secured housing and connected them with legal aid to apply for TPS. They found ways to give back: She sang solos with the Haitian Creole choir; her husband became one of the volunteer drivers. Before the influx of Haitian refugees began arriving in Elizabeth in 2010, Moore said, church membership was largely flat, in the low forties on a Sunday. (Together, the Haitians and new parishioners who joined the church to support them quadrupled this number, he said.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Moore said he saw \u201can opportunity,\u201d and the church started collecting non-perishable foods and clothing for new arrivals. Soon came the English classes, which outgrew a small room above the sanctuary to attract more than 300 eager Haitian students. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Church members helped newcomers secure stable jobs, often as home health aides or nursing assistants \u2014 fields where New Jersey faces an acute\u00a0shortage. Sam Crawford, St. Elizabeth\u2019s organist, created r\u00e9sum\u00e9s for over 100 recent migrants. Crawford spent so much time printing copies at the Elizabeth Public Library that a staffer called Moore, inviting St. Elizabeth\u2019s Haitian students to the library\u2019s own English classes. But they preferred staying at church.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey became very familiar with our teacher here and this environment, and it was not as public as the library,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cThey stuck to us more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4265264\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 240px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/webrns-rev-canon-andy-moore-20260622\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4265264 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-20260622-240x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-20260622-240x240.jpg 240w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Rev.-Canon-Andy-Moore-20260622-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Rev. Canon Andy Moore of St. Elizabeth\u2019s Episcopal Church. Photo courtesy St. Elizabeth\u2019s Episcopal Church<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Haitians soon became fully ingrained in the life of the church, serving as acolytes and Eucharistic ministers. On Sundays, Scripture was read in French and Haitian Creole. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter worship, you\u2019ll have to push them out the door, because they\u2019ll be here for hours,\u201d Moore said. They cooked the pork shoulder delicacy known as\u00a0griot\u00a0in the church kitchen, and conversation would spill into song.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At 10 p.m. on Jan. 1, Moore invited dozens of Haitians and other Caribbeans to St. Elizabeth\u2019s parish hall to celebrate Haitian Independence Day over soup\u00a0joumou, \u201cfreedom soup,\u201d which\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0learned to prepare. Those who came stayed until two in the morning. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0like they told us, \u2018We know you are here, and we see you, and you matter,\u2019\u201d Roseline said. \u201cThat\u2019s why Jesus is sharing food all the time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet she was one of the few who still felt safe. The woman from Cit\u00e9 Soleil stopped singing in the Haitian choir before Christmas, when her husband became too fearful of being detained to keep driving fellow Haitians to church. A week after the f\u00eate, even\u00a0Roseline stayed home for more than two months. When she cautiously returned, she was\u00a0nearly always\u00a0the only Haitian in the pews.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it was the biggest blow to my whole ministry,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI\u2019ve dealt with all kinds of setbacks, challenges, but this one really, really shook my faith.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"pull-quote wp-block-rns-pull-quote\">\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019ve dealt with all kinds of setbacks, challenges, but this one really, really shook my faith.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><cite>Rev. Canon Andy Moore<\/cite><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The thought of shuttering St. Elizabeth\u2019s doors is never far from mind for Moore. On Good Friday, Moore looked over a mere 18 worshippers, including those behind the organ and altar. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>St. Agnes\u2019 Episcopal Church in nearby Little Falls, New Jersey, he announced, would have its last service on Easter Sunday after 130 years due to a diminishing congregation. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey die, yet we live,\u201d Moore said, praying as much as declaring. \u201cPlease, as testimony of the life that Christ is bringing to us, bring a friend, bring a family member.\u201d Then his thoughts turned to the Haitians behind locked doors, not unlike the disciples that first Easter. The church they led in song just months ago is now left hoping for another resurrection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet this church be filled with voices, especially for those who are missed,\u201d Moore said. \u201cWe sing for those who cannot sing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Noah LaBelle is a journalist and student at Princeton University. He has previously contributed to The Guardian, among other publications.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/22\/the-biggest-blow-to-my-ministry-a-pastor-watches-as-fearful-haitian-immigrants-flee-church\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ELIZABETH, N.J. \u2014 On a Sunday in March, the Rev. Canon Andy Moore looked out at the empty back-left pews at St. Elizabeth\u2019s Episcopal Church, which had once been filled with Haitian immigrants. \u201cWe pray in a very special way for our Haitians who aren\u2019t here at this service, stricken by fear,\u201d he said, before [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}