An Episcopal congregation that serves seasonal farmworkers in southeast North Carolina has a new church building thanks to the hard work of church members who built it themselves. It’s the first building for Iglesia Episcopal La Sagrada Familia – the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family – since its ministry began there 29 years ago.

“There aren’t that many new buildings being built in The Episcopal Church,” the Rev. Fred Clarkson, the congregation’s priest-in-charge, told Episcopal News Service, let alone one constructed by the people it serves. Its presence “has brought a sense of hope to people.”

The farmworkers received various gifts from individuals and the Diocese of East Carolina, of which the church is a part, Clarkson said. East Carolina Bishop Rob Skirving will preside at the church’s dedication and consecration on May 10.

The church is part of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, a joint effort of the dioceses of North Carolina y East Carolina, that since 1978 has served farmworkers who come to the region for six to nine months a year on U.S. government-issued H-2A visas. Seasonal workers and immigrants who live in the area year-round mostly work in fields harvesting sweet potatoes or tobacco, or in turkey- or pork-processing plants.

Construction of the new church building began in June 2023. Previously, the congregation met in a nearby open-air pavilion owned by the Farmworker Ministry.

The church now has an average Sunday attendance between 80 and 100, and most who attend are young. “Our average age is probably in their 30s,” Clarkson said. “We’re one of the younger, if not the youngest, parish in terms of age in our diocese.”

The dioceses’ religious outreach to farmworkers began in 1996, and the Spanish-speaking congregation includes second- and third-generation farmworkers and their children who continue to live and work in the area, as well as generations of seasonal workers, said Clarkson, who also is the East Carolina diocese’s Spanish-language ministry coordinator.

In addition to the church, the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry provides a variety of assistance to area laborers. “There are over 8,000 workers who come during the season,” Mauricio Chenlo, the ministry’s executive director, told media. Those who are in the United States on H-2A visas are provided with housing, as required by U.S. law, and most of that is in camps, he said. Because mattresses often are worn out, the ministry buys those in bulk and distributes as many as it can.

It also provides recreational activities on Sundays – the one day that workers have off – and a warehouse stocks items, including clothing and hygiene kits, that workers may need.

Ministry staff and volunteers visit camps to educate farmworkers about their employment rights. This includes making sure employers don’t withhold Social Security taxes from their paychecks, since federal law prohibits H-2A visa farmworkers from collecting Social Security benefits.

Some of the young, mostly male farmworkers suffer from alcohol or substance abuse, Chenlo said. “Imagine you’re coming from a little town in Mexico, and you’re in the middle of the fields for nine months,” he said. “It’s really tough in terms of emotional displacement.” A wellness initiative is available to them and other workers needing help with mental health issues.

Other services are also open to immigrants who live in the area year-round, including a monthly food distribution that usually draws 500 – 600 people. Volunteers from area Episcopal churches help with setting up fresh produce, canned and boxed goods in the pavilion so people can shop for what they need.

There are also twice-weekly English-as-a-second-language classes offered through the local community college. A former midwife offers a support program for pregnant women and new mothers, and a sewing class for women now has beginner and advanced tracks.

Many of the area’s immigrants are undocumented, Chenlo added, so immigration clinics are offered by a Raleigh law firm that donates its services.

Concerns about immigration are top-of-mind for the Rev. Cuyler O’Connor, a deacon in the Diocese of North Carolina who is a member of the Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry board. They have been trying to track activity in the region around immigration, he told media, but like many organizations, the board struggles with accurate information. “There are constant changes from the current administration that we have to manage,” he said.

Rumors of the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area prompted cancellation of the food distribution in February, Chenlo said, because people were too scared to be out in public. Half the usual number did come in March, but he continues to see fewer people in stores or restaurants.

Clarkson believes the government has a vested interest in keeping area farms and processing plants operating, so he doesn’t think the H-2A visa program will be part of any orders barring migrants into the U.S. “You don’t want food supplies to be affected in any way, right?” he asked.

Recalling empty store shelves caused by supply chain disruptions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, “Stuff like that freaks the government out.”

The area’s economy also depends on these workers, Chenlo added. In addition to getting crops harvested and much of the nation’s turkey and pork processed, “they consume things, they buy gas, they buy groceries.”

Clarkson is thankful that fear hasn’t kept church members away from services at Iglesia Episcopal Sagrada Familia. With public opinion polling showing anti-immigrant sentiment on this rise, he acknowledges that could cause some people in the community to treat his church members disrespectfully. But even on those occasions, he believes the church still can help.

“It’s an opportunity to remind the people who feel they’re threatened or disrespected that there are people who still respect them, people who still love them, and that there’s still goodness,” he said. “While politicians like to divide, I think it’s always the church’s task to connect and build bridges and heal.”

Este artículo apareció originalmente en Servicio de noticias episcopal.