CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As Border Patrol agents fan out of Charlotte and fear lingers from days of federal immigration enforcement across the region, Bishop Michael Martin is urging Catholics to confront the moment through the lens of faith, not politics.

Half of the diocese’s roughly 565,000 Catholics are Hispanic. Many stayed home from Mass, paused parish ministries or changed their daily routines this week as word of the operation spread and masked agents arrested people in parking lots, grocery stores, and outside a church. Martin said the fear he is hearing from families echoes the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a wave of uncertainty that keeps people indoors and disrupts routines.

Hundreds of arrests occurred during the multi-day operation, which appears to have moved out of Charlotte on Thursday, but parish leaders say anxiety across Latino congregations is far from gone.

“The lingering effect of that,” he said, “is going to be around with us for a while.”

In a series of statements this month and in an interview with The Charlotte Observer on Thursday from Rome, Martin has used direct language to call the situation a moral concern for the region’s Catholics. He has repeatedly asked parishioners to consider whether their faith is shaping their political views, or whether the opposite has taken hold.

‘Do not be paralyzed by fear’

Martin met briefly with Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday and told him about the fear gripping Charlotte’s immigrant families. He said he thanked the pope for his public comments on migration and asked him to “keep in prayer the folks in our area who are experiencing a lot of anxiety and fear because of the… raids.”

That message mirrors what he has been telling Catholics back home. In a statement earlier this week, Martin urged parishioners to reach out to neighbors living “with this uncertainty,” observe a day of prayer and fasting and avoid vilifying federal agents. And in a Nov. 12 message, he reassured immigrants directly.

“Do not be paralyzed by fear,” Martin said. “Trust that God walks with you, as do we during this time of uncertainty.”

He has urged people to contact lawmakers and called on those in power to work on immigration reform. Martin said any believer should expect their faith to guide how they evaluate public issues, and should root their politics in Catholic social teaching rather than partisan alignment.

“It’s a false argument to claim that religion shouldn’t factor in,” he said. “When you’re asking me to vote on something, you’re asking a Catholic who sees the world a certain way to vote and to encourage a certain way of seeing it.”

Martin has also drawn a clear line between the agents carrying out federal law and the lawmakers who craft it. He warned that if the country keeps focusing solely on enforcement, “we will still be dealing with this enforcement issue 20 years from now.”

“The real issue,” he said, “is immigration reform.”

In a Feb. 5 statement, Martin and the state’s bishops outlined how they view immigration through Catholic teaching. The Church recognizes the right of nations to regulate borders, but says immigrants must be treated with dignity, families should be kept together, and the current system, which allows many to live and work in the U.S. for years without a pathway to legal status, “perpetuates a permanent underclass,” the statement said.

As those debates play out nationally, the impact in Charlotte’s parishes has been immediate. Some canceled meetings or youth events, according to the Catholic News Herald. Others shifted to prayer services, legal-rights workshops or direct outreach to families who suddenly avoided public spaces.

“Parents don’t want to be separated from their children,” he said. “Folks are just staying home… dealing with the fear, I think, is debilitating after a while.”

As Sunday Mass approaches, Martin’s message is focused on prayer and solidarity. He said he understands why some families still may not come to church after the week’s events. But he hopes Catholics across the diocese will treat this moment as a chance to remember who is sitting in the pews beside them.

“Instead of using this as a political football,” Martin said. “Let’s treat these people with dignity.”

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