MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The Diocese of Nashville has taken the rare step of telling Catholics they do not have to attend Mass if they fear for their safety. That is in response to a series of ICE raids targeting immigrants in the city. Marianna Bacallao from member station WPLN in Nashville reports that choirs in the city's Spanish-speaking parishes have been quieter than usual.
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing in non-English language).
MARIANNA BACALLAO, BYLINE: The first Sunday Mass of Pope Leo's papacy was sparsely attended at Sagrado Corazon de Jesus Catholic Church in Nashville. As the white smoke billowed in Vatican City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the middle of a weeklong raid on Nashville's immigrant corridor. Nearly 200 people were arrested and detained by ICE in the span of a few days.
GISSELLE HUERTA: Ever since then, we have a scared community.
BACALLAO: That's Gisselle Huerta, a parishioner at Sagrado. She says that the Sunday after the raids...
HUERTA: The Mass at 10 a.m. - it was kind of empty. And the Mass service is always so full.
BACALLAO: At the start of the year, President Trump ended the decadeslong precedent of protecting churches and other sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions. Today, there have been no arrests reported inside churches, but there have been arrests just outside of church buildings. Nearly a quarter of all Catholics in the U.S. are vulnerable to deportation or have a loved one who is, compared to 8% of Christians as a whole. That's according to a joint report from the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops and several evangelical groups. In response to the raids, the Diocese of Nashville has told its congregants they're not obligated to attend Mass on Sunday if doing so puts their safety at risk.
HUERTA: I've never, ever, ever in my life - I'm 24 years old - I've never, ever seen that or ever heard of them ever doing that. And to have a Catholic church come out to say that is because he - they know that their community is hurting.
BACALLAO: Rick Musacchio, executive director of the Tennessee Catholic Conference, said the message to Nashville congregants reaffirms existing church law. The Catholic Church already allows for parishioners to stay home from Mass for any reason that could put them in harm's way, like in the case of a natural disaster or icy roads.
RICK MUSACCHIO: They can make that decision for themselves that conditions are too dangerous to attend Mass on Sunday and instead have a private devotion or private attention to extra prayer or reading the scripture.
BACALLAO: Church attendance initially rebounded after the raids, Musacchio says, but has gone back down again as Nashville sees more attention from federal immigration officials. Last week, the Catholic bishops of Tennessee said they're concerned about the lack of due process for those detained, which they say, quote, "contributes to widespread fear, especially the fear of being detained while simply attending Mass." For NPR News, I'm Marianna Bacallao in Nashville. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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