Trump immigration policies spark fear and faith at Spanish Catholic Masses

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CNA Staff, Sep 5, 2025 / 05:00 am (CNA).

The many changes to immigration enforcement policies introduced by the Trump administration since the president’s inauguration in January has led what some Catholic dioceses are calling “terror” to take hold of Spanish-speaking parishioners throughout the United States.

CNA asked dioceses around the country what effects, if any, the administration’s changing policies have had on Spanish Mass attendance. While responses varied — some dioceses have noted declines while others have seen increased attendance — one theme appeared throughout: Immigrants are filled with fear.

*‘It’s more than fear — it’s terror’*

The Archdiocese of Atlanta has not collected data on Mass attendance, and any changes in attendance, if any, are “very small,” according to Yolanda Muñoz, the director of Hispanic and Latino ministries for the archdiocese. 

She told CNA that although people are “very afraid,” their “faith is strong and they find ways around” their fears. Some carpool with people who have legal status. Many have created WhatsApp chats “to inform one another if there are areas of danger to avoid.”

Muñoz said some priests are even going to places where “there is a heavy concentration of immigrants, like trailer parks” to say Mass.

The archdiocese has held informational meetings in parishes at which immigrants are educated in their rights as well as in ways to plan and protect themselves and their families if they are deported.

Although the current “situation is very difficult and very sad, we must keep on reminding ourselves that Christ is in the boat in the middle of the storm,” Muñoz said. 

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of the Archdiocese of San Antonio told CNA he had not heard from priests that people were avoiding going to church, although on the day he spoke with CNA, he said he had just heard from a local priest about three families that were taken into custody.

He stressed that “fear is there. It’s more than fear — it’s terror.”

Nevertheless, he said that at least in San Antonio, people “trust the Church and their communities” because they have faith.

García-Siller said he thinks San Antonio is unique because there is more acceptance of immigrants there due to integration that has been ongoing for decades in the city.

“In San Antonio, we have Spanish Masses in almost all parishes … Hispanics here go to any parish,” he said.

According to the archbishop, the federal government has, until February of this year, asked the Church in San Antonio to help immigrants, and the Church responded, through Catholic Charities, with humanitarian aid, medical and legal assistance, counseling, and spiritual support.

“What is beautiful to see in San Antonio is that these services are not done only by professionals but also people from the parishes, laity, religious men and women, brothers, religious nuns and diocesan priests,” he said. 

“I have seen in the last few months more people in need. People are eating less, they are avoiding getting health care, and some even avoid going to school,” he said.

“We don’t ask them if they have papers or not,” he continued. “Because of the rhetoric in the country, people are very damaged, very scared. We avoid divisive narratives.”

The prelate said that immigrants “know that we as the Church, the body of Christ, we are for them.”

*‘Less likely to linger after Mass’*

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Las Vegas told CNA the archdiocese had noted a decline in participation at some Hispanic parishes, “particularly in Mass attendance and religious education enrollment.”

“One parish that would typically see around 1,500 children in its first Communion program has closer to 860 this year,” according to the archdiocese. ”In addition, families seem less likely to linger after Mass for community activities and socializing.”

*Parishioners expressing ‘apprehension and fear’*

Secretary for Communications and Public Affairs for the Archdiocese of Boston Terrence Donilon told CNA that the climate of “uncertainty” has resulted in “a stressful time for ethnic communities in the Commonwealth” of Massachusetts, with parishes rescheduling or seeking “alternatives” for summer festivals used for parish fellowship and fundraising.

“Anecdotally some pastors, though not all, have noticed Mass attendance among non-Anglo parishioners decline during this period of concern,” Donilon said.

Alayna Fox of the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, told CNA that “while the Diocese of Burlington does not have a large population of native Spanish speakers, it has been reported that attendance at the Masses offered in Spanish have experienced a drop in attendance.”

The communications director for the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, Tara Bishop, noted that there had been a decline in attendance recently, though she said the diocese could not “definitively attribute” it to immigration policies. 

She went on to say that many parishioners had “expressed apprehension and fear about participating in various parish events.”

However, Bishop said that “it is common to see a significant drop in attendance at Eucharistic celebrations during the summer months, so this decline may be part of a seasonal trend rather than a direct result of immigration policy changes.”

*Need for a ‘spiritual dimension in this time of stress’*

Echoing Bishop, Father Will Banowsky of Holy Spirit Catholic Church located in the southwest part of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City said that seasonal effects on attendance rather than fear of immigration enforcement seemed to explain declines in Spanish Mass participation throughout the summer. 

“A lot of people went back to their countries in the summer, or they went on vacation,” he said.

Many returned for the start of the school year, he said. There were 920 people at a recent Spanish Mass at Holy Spirit, whose congregation is about 50% Hispanic and where the average is closer to 650-800.

Banowsky told CNA that the higher-than-average attendance numbers in August could be attributed to people knowing they need that “spiritual dimension in this time of stress.”

While he said his parish and others in the archdiocese have not been “hurting” regarding attendance, he said there is still a lot of fear among Hispanic parishioners, and “social media doesn’t help.”

“We try to make sure people can find a refuge from their fears here, whatever those fears may be,” he said.