Migration with Dignity Prayer Vigils

16Oct

October Migration with Dignity Prayer Vigil

On Wednesday, Oct. 16, St. David’s hosted the third in a series of Migration with Dignity Prayer Vigils and food drives designed to stand in solidarity with our migrant neighbors living under increased enforcement and deportation risk. Led by our Advocacy Group under the direction of Dianne Hardy-Garcia, 142 Austinites gathered on our surface lot to pray, sing, and commit themselves to protecting our migrant neighbors. More than 100 people joined us for dinner before the vigil, offering fellowship and networking.

This month, we were joined by the clergy and people of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and their pastor the Rev. Jim Rigby, who has long advocated for migrant justice in Austin. The Rev. Rigby led a service focused on the symbol of the monarch butterfly. Just as monarchs migrate across our continent to the benefit of all, so do our migrant siblings benefit our communities.

An artist painted a large monarch portrait as we prayed together, and participants added their monarch magnets to our fence as a visual reminder of their own commitments to work for justice. Additionally, musician Javier Jara shared songs that told the stories of migrants, and we heard testimonials from those impacted by recent enforcement efforts including a poem by St. David’s Vestry Member José Sanchez. The evening ended by singing “We Shall Overcome” in Spanish and English together.

These prayer vigils grow out of The Episcopal Church USA and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas’ commitment to advocate for migration with dignity by promoting principles about migration that resonate with the teachings of Jesus (General Convention resolution 2024-C031 as affirmed at the Diocese of Texas Council, February 2025) and were organized by a coalition of Episcopal leaders and interfaith partners including the Rev. Alyssa Stebbing, the Rev. Josh Kulak, and the Rev. Jim Harrington.

The next Migration with Dignity Prayer Vigil will be held at St. David’s at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19. The food drive will benefit St. James Episcopal Church in East Austin.

November Migration with Dignity Prayer Vigil

St. David’s Episcopal Church
301 E. 8th Street

Wednesday, Nov. 19

5:30 p.m. Community Dinner
6:30 p.m. Prayer Vigil

Everyone is welcome to our next Migration with Dignity Prayer Vigil and food drive on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Participants are welcome to attend our community dinner at 5:30 p.m. in Sumners Hall before the prayer vigil, which begins at 6:30 p.m. on the Surface Lot.

Parking is free during church services and events. Enter between 7th and 8th Street on Trinity Street. Childcare is available during worship services.

To help with the food insecurity caused by the immigration crisis, these events will also serve as a food drive. Participants are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items. The November food drive will benefit St. James Episcopal Church in East Austin, as previous vigils supplied food banks in South and North Austin.

In this way, we hope to help feed our neighbors around the city.

See links below for news coverage of previous vigils. We hope stories like this make you proud of our faithful and collective efforts to stand up for migrants.

CBS Austin - Interfaith vigil unites Austin in solidarity with migrants amid policy debates - Sept. 17, 2025
Fox 7 - Prayer service against mistreatment of immigrants - Sept. 17, 2025
Fox7 - Dozens attend prayer vigil held downtown for migrant justice - Oct. 15, 2025