Immigration & Multicultural Ministries

We, the people of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts,
are a diverse community of the Body of Jesus Christ.
 

Our 2016 diocesan mission strategy included a commitment to "investing in ministries with communities of color and immigrant communities, drawing upon their unique strengths and supporting their health."  In response, the diocesan staff position of canon for immigration and multicultural ministries was created, and the Rev. Canon Dr. Jean Baptiste Ntagengwa serves in this role to help implement the mission strategy commitment.

A variety of activities that are being initiated or intensified toward reimagining congregations and ministries and building relationships are highlighted on this page.
 

Get connected

Canon Jean Baptiste Ntagengwa

Are there individuals or groups in your congregation or community who would benefit from connection with these ministry efforts?

Questions, suggestions and participation are welcome! 

Contact: The Rev. Canon Dr. Jean Baptiste Ntagengwa jbntagengwa@diomass.org or 617-482-4826, ext. 400.

Immigration resources and advocacy

With changed and changing federal immigration policy causing uncertainty and concern in communities and congregations, a list of training opportunities, advocacy resources and worship and study materials has been compiled to help the people of our diocese respond. Use the button below to access the list.

Immigration resources and advocacy list

Bishop Alan M. Gates African Anglican-Episcopal Mission Center

There was much to celebrate in Everett on Oct. 12, 2024, as the bishops and bishop-elect gathered with the diocese's African Clergy Caucus, members of their families and worshiping communities, and friends from around the diocese for the dedication of the new Bishop Alan M. Gates African Anglican-Episcopal Mission Center.  

Read more and see photos here and in The Living Church here.

Black Churches United

Courtesy Photos Among Black Churches United are (top, from left): Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin in Boston; St. Bartholomew's Church in Cambridge; St. Mark's Church in Dorchester; St. Mary's Church in Dorchester; and (bottom) Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan; St. Cyprian's Church in Roxbury; and St. John St. James Church in Roxbury.

Black Churches United (which includes our historically Black churches) in the Diocese of Massachusetts are listed below, alphabetically by location:

• Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin in Boston
• St. Bartholomew's Church in Cambridge
• St. Mark's Church in Dorchester
• St. Mary's Church in Dorchester
• Dinka Community, worshiping at the African Mission Center in Everett
• Christ the King Church in Lynn
• Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan
• St. Cyprian's Church in Roxbury
• St. John St. James Church in Roxbury
• St. Peter's Anglican Church in Waltham

These congregations are seeking to work collaboratively and develop the capacity to flourish through a discernment process of deep listening and study of shared histories, mutual goals and collaborations.  

They meet regularly; contact the Rev. Zenetta Armstrong at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan (zenettaarmstrong@aol.com) for meeting information.

A resolution adopted by the 2020 Diocesan Convention--"A Call to Address the Neglect of the Seven Historically Black Churches of the Diocese and to Strengthen Their Interrelationships"--is an important action.  Find the text of the resolution here.

Hispanic Ministries

Latino/Hispanic ministries in the Diocese of Massachusetts include the following congregations (listed alphabetically by location).

• St. Stephen's Church in Boston
• St. Luke’s-San Lucas in Chelsea
• St. Mary’s Church in Dorchester
• Trinity Church in Haverhill
• Iglesia San Juan in Hyde Park
• Grace Church in Lawrence
• St. Anne’s Church in Lowell
• St. Peter’s-San Pedro in Salem

These ministries receive diocesan grants enabling them to invest in cultural music and to serve people who were otherwise underserved.

The Hispanic Ministries Committee comprises ordained Latinos and Latinas of our diocese and other clerics who speak Spanish and are in relationship of some sort with Spanish-speaking communities. 

The committee meets monthly on the third Thursday of the month. Contact the Rev. Isaac Martinez (isaacm@trinitymelrose.net) or the Rev. Eva Ortez (eva@ststephensbos.org) for meeting information.

This committee has recently been undergoing internal discernment, revisiting its beginnings and identity as Latino/Hispanic ministries of our diocese. Find the resulting Hispanic Ministries Committee's 2021 Strategic Plan here.

African Ministries

As our bishops in the Diocese of Massachusetts reaffirmed in their response to the January 2016 Anglican primates’ action, our diocese claims in its fullness our identity as Christians in the Anglican Communion: “Here in the Diocese of Massachusetts we rejoice in that identity, as manifest in mission partnerships and fruitful relationships with our sister and brother Anglicans in El Salvador, Honduras, Tanzania, Jerusalem and elsewhere around the Anglican world.” That partnership manifests itself both here and beyond.

We have been able to connect with other dioceses in the Anglican Communion. We have been in conversation or mission relationships with bishops from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola and Zambia; some have been able to visit our diocese.

Our diocese currently has six worshiping communities whose members are mostly of African descent and who arrived recently. These worshiping communities (listed alphabetically by location) are:

• Grace Chapel in Brockton
• Christ Church in Hyde Park (Nigerians)
• Christ the King in Lynn (Kenyans)
• South Sudanese congregation meeting at the African Mission Center in Everett
• Trinity Church in Randolph (Nigerians)
• St. Peter's Church in Waltham (Ugandans)

Courtesy photo Members of the African Clergy Caucus and their families at a recent retreat at the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center

These worshiping communities receive or are eligible to receive diocesan African Ministry Grants that help them to do their ministries as they express their faith through their cultural heritages and languages. A grants committee of the African Clergy Caucus awards those grants at its usual April meeting.

The African Clergy Caucus came into existence in 2011. It is a voluntary association of African clergy in the diaspora who serve in the Diocese of Massachusetts. The caucus is the venue through which African clergy of this diocese encourage, pray for and celebrate each other's ministries and hold each other accountable to the mission of the diocese. This body views itself as a bridge between the Diocese of Massachusetts and the Episcopal/Anglican church on the continent of Africa.

The African Clergy Caucus meets on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. for prayer and the third Saturday of the month at 4 p.m. for regular meetings.  Contact the Rev. Derrick Muwina (rector@saintpeterscambridge.org) for meeting information.

Asian Ministry

Currently, our diocese has one Asian ministry: the Chinese congregation that worships at our Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. This community continues to create relationship-building opportunities through Christmas concerts and other activities. It is now being served by supply clergy as it is putting together ideas for its way forward. Canon Jean Baptiste Ntagengwa serves as the ministry's primary contact priest, and during the COVID-19 pandemic period, he has been the long-term supply clergy.

There is also a network of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans that meets regularly.  Contact the Rev. Diane Wong at dianeckwong@gmail.com for meeting information.

Clergy of Color Fellowship and Intercultural Education

Efforts to bring together ordained indigenous people and people of color for fellowship, exchange of ideas and intercultural education are underway. Past examples of note are the dinner held with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry when he visited our diocese in April 2019, and the pilgrimage in October 2019 to the Tracing Center at the Cathedral of St. John in Providence, R.I.  This group plans to organize other educational events related to learning about the cultures of our clergy of color, and hopes to be good resource for the diocesan Racial Justice Commission that is newly forming out of work initiated in 2018.

Ministry of Immigration Partnership

Courtesy Photo Nineteen people from five New England dioceses traveled to Washington, D.C., Dec. 4-5, 2019, for advocacy training and meetings with legislators about refugee and immigration policy reform.  They are pictured here with staff members from Episcopal Migration Ministries and the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations.

At the end of September 2019, the Ministry of Immigration Partnership convened through the diocesan Office of the Canon for Immigration and Multicultural Ministries had its first meeting to brainstorm about advocacy on behalf of immigrants and refugees.

As a result, and inspired by Bishop Alan M. Gates's July 2019 letter calling for action in response to the ongoing national immigration policy crisis, a New England contingent of 19 people from the Episcopal dioceses of Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine traveled to Washington, D.C., in December 2019 for "Love God, Love Neighbor: Advocacy in Action"--a two-day training and advocacy initiative focused on how to engage with lawmakers about refugee and immigration policy reform.

Staff members from Episcopal Migration Ministries and the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations provided the group with a day of advocacy training to prepare them for meetings with their senators, representatives and congressional staff the following day.

Worthwhile takeaways from the experience, several participants said upon their return, were the opportunity to learn and practice advocacy skills and to build relationships—among Episcopalians in the region, with new partners in churchwide organizations and with lawmakers and their staff.  Read more here.

To follow-up and take next steps, the Ministry of Immigration Partnership convened through the diocesan Office of the Canon for Immigration and Multicultural Ministries has hosted:

• regional educational workshops;
• in-person and online celebrations honoring World Refugee Day;
• a learning and listening session via Zoom focused on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA);
• an online introduction to advocacy, offered by the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations, with a follow-up letter-writing workshop aimed at helping advocates introduce themselves to their legislators for future engagement;
• an online “Get Out the Vote” event from a faith perspective; and
• an online gathering with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agent who described an immigrant’s journey through the U.S. citizenship process.

Partners in this ministry invite everyone's participation and suggestions to help increase knowledge about and support for immigrants and refugees in our midst.

Immigration legal services

Diocesan mission strategy makes a commitment to invest in ministry with immigrants and communities of color.  Some members of this population are at different stages in their immigration processes, and for many of them, related legal processes may be unaffordable.  To respond to this pressing situation, the Rev. Canon Dr. Jean Baptiste Ntagengwa, Canon for Immigration and Multicultural Ministries, has completed the process for recognition by the U.S. Department of Justice to offer some limited legal services to individuals who meet certain guidelines.  He can offer, among other services: 

• Initial consultation
• Help to file change of address
• Representation at USCIS interviews
• DACA renewal
• Non-Immigrant Religious Visa (R-1)
• Petition for Religious Worker
• Adjustment of Status
• Extend/Change Status – V Visa
• Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
• Application for Naturalization
• Certificate of Citizenship

For more information, contact the Rev. Canon Dr. Jean Baptiste Ntagengwa at jbntagengwa@diomass.org or 617-482-4826, ext. 400.