The Catholic Bishop of Providence led prayers on Monday outside a jail in Central Falls that holds immigration detainees.
Bishop Bruce Lewandowski led a small crowd of parishioners and other clergy in reciting a “Rosary of Migration” outside the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. Lewandowski used a megaphone so detainees within the jail could hear the prayers. Some people inside pawed at the windows of their cells as the group prayed in front of the facility in the cold.
Lewandowski said that the recent killing of Renee Nicole Good by an immigration agent in Minneapolis was a key motivator for organizing the event.
“Instead of praying in our churches only, we decided to take to the streets and pray here, praying not just for those who are detained at Wyatt but across the country,” Lewandowski said. “We're praying for just and comprehensive immigration reform. We think that's the solution.”
This is not the first time Lewandowski has led a crowd in public prayer in front of the facility. Last month, he led a crowd in a public rosary prayer in solidarity with migrants detained during the federal government’s ongoing immigration crackdown campaign.
"It's pretty simple: Jesus said, ‘Whatever you do to the least of those you do to me,’” Lewandowski said. “And we see Christ in our brothers and sisters, especially at this moment when people are very fearful, anxious, upset – people's lives have been dramatically altered, and in many situations not for the better.”
The Wyatt Detention Facility housed more than 100 ICE detainees in November, according to the most recent available data.
Pope Leo has said that Catholics around the globe have a duty to welcome and assist migrants. At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore in the fall, 216 Bishops voted in favor of a “Special Message” on immigration that said they were “saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.” It was the first such message the ecclesiastical body has issued since 2013.
