Newark Catholics offer prayer and witness at migrant detention center
About 150 concerned Catholics gathered on Oct. 22 outside Delaney Hall Detention Center, an immigrant detention facility in Newark, NJ. Priests, nuns, and lay people held the “One Church, One Family” service to bear a peaceful and prayerful public witness to the dignity of migrants. Also present were two bishops from the Archdiocese of Newark, Auxiliary Bishop Manuel A. Cruz and Bishop Emeritus Gregory J. Studerus. Father Alex Gaitan, the Archdiocese’s immigration ministry coordinator, also participated, as did Sister Patricia M. Wormann, O.P., a member of the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, NJ, and the Archdiocesan Delegate for Religious, who acted as a reader at the service.
Prayers, readings, reflections, and testimonies focused on opening hearts to the plight of immigrants who live in fear and uncertainty. During the “Litany of the Deceased,” participants read the names of those they said had died in detention. A bell was rung as each name was read, and the name of the individual was written in chalk on the asphalt of Doremus Avenue in front of the facility.
One reading during the service came from Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”), a section in which the Holy Father addresses accompanying migrants:
“The experience of migration accompanies the history of the People of God. Abraham sets out without knowing where he is going; Moses leads the pilgrim people through the desert; Mary and Joseph flee with the child Jesus to Egypt. Christ himself, who ‘came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him’ (Jn 1:11), lived among us as a stranger. For this reason, the Church has always recognized in migrants a living presence of the Lord who, on the day of judgment, will say to those on his right: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ (Mt 25:35).”
The Patroness of All Migrants
In the exhortation, the pope also points to two saints, Saint John Baptist Scalabrini and Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, who “distinguished themselves in the pastoral care of migrants.” Mother Cabrini, who immigrated to America from Italy, became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized in 1946.
“Armed with remarkable boldness, she started schools, hospitals, and orphanages from nothing for the masses of the poor who ventured into the new world in search of work,” the pope wrote, also noting that Pope Pius XII proclaimed her Patroness of All Migrants in 1950.
Two of Mother Cabrini’s many pastoral works, a school for Italian immigrant children and an orphanage for girls, were established in the Diocese of Newark.
Providing pastoral care today
Delaney Hall, a privately-run, 1,000-bed facility, opened in May of this year. Speakers at the prayer service advocated for the dignity of the detainees held inside, as well as highlighting the struggles of families who wait for hours in heat, cold, and rain in the hopes of briefly seeing their loved ones.
Father Gaitan bore witness to the pastoral care the Archdiocese of Newark is currently providing to detainees at the center. Priests and volunteers lead prayer services, and priests offer blessings and administer sacraments to those in detention. He said that the Archdiocese was also working with other faith traditions to serve the spiritual needs of detainees.
“We have to break the boundaries of our own beliefs and work together as one family,” Fr. Gaitan said. He also gave thanks “for the many families that have given all their lives to this country” and who have “worked so hard so that this country can stand where it is today.”
Indicating the facility, Fr. Gaitan said, “Our family members are inside. Our sisters and brothers are inside. When they listen to the Word of God every single weekend, some of them cry. Many of them ask for prayers for their court date, their families, and for what they are going through.”
“God stands with us, and we stand with them,” Fr. Gaitan said.
Seeing the Holy Family in the faces of migrants
The service concluded with a blessing from Bishop Cruz, who first shared a moving reflection on the dignity of immigrants in both Spanish and English. “My name is Manuel Cruz, and I am a Cuban refugee who came to this country seeking freedom,” he said.
Bishop Cruz identified Saint Juan Diego, to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531, as an example to be followed. “Saint Juan Diego was a man on the periphery, a man who was powerless,” he said. “He was an Indigenous man who didn’t even speak Spanish, but the Virgin appeared to him. On the periphery, Juan Diego continued to bear witness, and life changed. Mexico rose. Juan Diego was a man who was powerless, just like all of us feel powerless today.”
The bishop concluded his remarks by pointing to a painting that was held up for all to see. Refugees: The Holy Family, by artist Kelly Latimore, depicts Joseph, Mary, and the Child Jesus as three migrant refugees on the road.
“Look at this image,” Bishop Cruz said. “Look at the pain, the anguish, the fear, the suffering of this family. Look at it… This is what we need to see so that we can finally have compassion.”
Many passing cars and trucks honked their horns in a show of support throughout the service. As people dispersed, one of the organizers remarked that the horns were a sign of hope that the message about the dignity of migrants was being heard and “that people outside want families reunited.”
View more images from the “One Church, One Family” service HERE.
Learn more about the Immigration Ministry of the Archdiocese of Newark.
Editor’s note: Shania Mosquera contributed to this article.
Featured image: Bishop Manuel A. Cruz, D.D., delivers remarks before his blessing at the “One Church, One Family” service at Delaney Hall in Newark on Oct. 22, 2025. (Photo by John Touhey / Archdiocese of Newark)
