August 30, 2026
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In recent days, many families throughout Fairfield County, in Danbury, in Stamford, and in other of our communities, have lived through moments of real fear as immigration enforcement activity has intensified in our area. I have heard of husbands and fathers taken from their cars on the way to work, of spouses unable to find where a loved one has been brought, and of neighbors who no longer feel at ease walking to the store, dropping off a child at school, or simply going about the ordinary business of the day. Whatever one believes about the just enforcement of our nation’s laws, no person of faith can look upon this kind of suffering with indifference.
As your Bishop, I want you to know that the entire Diocese of Bridgeport is close to you in this moment. We are one Church, one Body in Christ, and when one member suffers, all of us suffer with him/her. To every family that has been separated this week, to every spouse searching for news of a husband or wife, to every child who wonders whether a parent will come home, I say clearly: you are not alone. This diocese holds you in constant prayer, and I hold you in my heart as your father in faith. You are daily in my prayers, especially when I celebrate Mass, the height of Christian prayer.
I do not write to make a political statement, nor is it the place of a Bishop to dictate the particulars of civil policy that belong properly to lawmakers and to citizens acting according to their conscience. But I write as a pastor who cannot remain silent while members of our human family are suffering, while families are separated, and while fear has entered our schools, our workplaces, and our streets. Every person, whatever his or her country of birth or immigration status, is made in the image and likeness of God and possesses a dignity that no earthly power may set aside.
To our immigrant brothers and sisters throughout Fairfield County, whether or not you are Catholic, whether or not you have ever set foot in one of our parishes, please know that the Church stands with you. Our parishes, our Catholic Charities, and our Office of Hispanic Ministry remain, as they have always been, places of welcome and refuge, and no one need fear that the doors of our churches will ever be closed to them.
I am asking every parish of the diocese to include a prayer for immigrant families and for all those affected by these events at every Mass in the days ahead.
Let us remember the word the Lord speaks to us again and again in Scripture: do not be afraid, for I am with you (cf. Is 41:10). Fear is real, but it does not have the final word. Christ walks with every suffering family in Fairfield County each day, and He asks each of us, as His Church, to walk with them as well.
May Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the migrant and consolation of the afflicted, wrap her mantle around every family who suffers in this hour. And may Almighty God bless and keep you all.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Frank J. Caggiano
Bishop of Bridgeport
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