Lay group Strangers No Longer kicks off three-month campaign of prayer and fasting Saturday at Most Holy Trinity

DETROIT — A lay-led Catholic advocacy group for immigrant and refugee rights will begin a three-month campaign of prayer, fasting and action to draw attention to the plight of families fleeing violence in Central America and looking for a welcoming home in the United States.

The group, called Strangers No Longer, will kick off the campaign with a Holy Hour for Families in Flight on Saturday, Jan. 11, at Most Holy Trinity Parish in Detroit. 

The event marks the end of National Migration Week (Jan. 5-11), an initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to bring attention to the challenges facing migrants.

The Saturday service will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Most Holy Trinity, said Bill O’Brien, coordinator of Strangers No Longer.

The service will include testimony from a woman whose family fled their home amid violence in Guatemala, arriving in southeast Michigan last December.

“There will be poems, prayers and a Gospel reading from Matthew 2:1-18, talking about the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents,” O'Brien said.

The Holy Hour will include a reflection from Sr. Nina Rodriguez, SSJ, a Detroiter raised by Mexican immigrants, and members of the Guadalupana Societies of Most Holy Trinity, Ste. Anne de Detroit and Holy Redeemer parishes will carry the photos of seven children who have died on the journey to the United States, crossing dangerous terrain.

“The purpose of prayer and fasting is to focus on other people who are suffering, and to pray that we as a community can become better Christians,” O'Brien said.

“People will have the opportunity to make a commitment to prayer and fasting for the next three months, a time of reflection on what each individual wants to do each month,” O’Brien said. “The purpose of prayer and fasting is to focus on other people who are suffering, and to pray that we as a community can become better Christians.”

Strangers No Longer plans to host Holy Hours throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit in February and March, with further details to be announced at Most Holy Trinity, 1050 Porter St., Detroit, on Saturday.

The campaign will end the night before Palm Sunday, Saturday, April 4, from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave., Detroit.

As the news surrounding migrant families evolves and changes, and the political climate remains at a stalemate, O'Brien said such events help Catholics bring a faith-based perspective to the issue, asking how God is calling them to care for the people around them.

“We heard there were parishes in Chicago doing a campaign of prayer and fasting, and we thought we can do this here,” O’Brien said. “A lot of times, we get discouraged, hearing all the news, and we don’t know what to do. When we start with prayer and fasting, offering our disappointments up to God, the action we’re called to take will come in due time.”