This immigrant church in Charlotte has advice for Trump on what to give up for Lent

Members of Charlotte's largest Spanish-speaking Catholic church have an idea what President Donald Trump can give up for Lent.

Instead of chocolate, they say, Trump should give up his hard-line policy on immigration.

This weekend, at all six of their Masses, the 5,000 parishioners at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church will make an offering of thousands of flowers – symbols of Lent – as part of their prayer that Trump will have a change of heart and turn away from his plans to get tougher on undocumented immigrants.

The church, whose members are immigrants from all over Latin America, has procured 4,000 carnations and 200 roses for the occasion, said the Rev. Vincent Finnerty, the church’s pastor.

In addition, the church will pass out 5,000 cards of spiritual encouragement to its members. Many of them are afraid in the wake of a new executive order from Trump that expanded the definition of criminal immigrants targeted for deportation to include those who entered the United States illegally.

The cards feature words from Pope Francis as well as the image of a 17th century painting of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus as refugees fleeing to Egypt.

The pontiff’s words, which will be in his native Spanish on the cards, are addressed to migrants and refugees. He says they have “a special place in the heart of the Church.”

The pope also urges immigrants and refugees to “not lose your faith and hope. Let us think of the Holy Family during the flight to Egypt. ... God would never abandon them. So in you may the same hope in the Lord never be wanting.”

Finnerty said the church is acting partly because “people here are anxious to do something” in response to the executive order and stepped-up arrests by federal immigration agents, also known as ICE.

And, Finnerty added, “it’s a way that we, as a church, can show that we are on the side of immigrants. It’s a fragile population. and Jesus was always with the fragile. They are good people who simply want to make a living, have a future and live in peace.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 11:13 AM with the headline "This immigrant church in Charlotte has advice for Trump on what to give up for Lent."