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CONCORD -- It was a perfect day for a baptism.
Sunlight spilled through the stained-glass windows depicting the Annunciation and the Assumption of Mary, which flanked the sanctuary doors of Holy Family Parish in Concord. The 10 children baptized by Father David O'Leary on July 27 were dressed impeccably, all in white. Some played with toy cars to pass the time, while others listened to music. Young girls wore billowing dresses, embroidered with lace or studded with artificial pearls. An older girl wore a crisp white suit with a big black bow tie that kept falling from her neck. An infant in his mother's arms wore a pink bow tie and black dress shoes, polished to a gleam, their laces undone. A baby girl tried to teeth on her unlit baptismal candle until her mother replaced it with her pacifier. The proud families captured every moment on their cell phones.
"I've never seen so many people dressed up," Father O'Leary told The Pilot. "They took it that seriously, that they put on their good clothes. They were dressed to the nines . . . That's how importantly they were taking the day. They were just so thrilled."
When the baptism ended, the joyous families, all Haitian migrants, returned to their emergency shelter on Route 2, where they each live in a single room and receive two meals a day. Some of the baptized infants were born there. Ninety families live in the shelter, the vast majority being from Haiti. The clothes the families wore to the baptism may have been donations, or may have been hurriedly packed as they fled the rampant poverty and gang violence plaguing their homeland. The oldest child baptized was nine, while the youngest was six months old.
"A lot of people don't know what we can do for them," Linda Tonies, a parishioner at Holy Family who regularly volunteers at the shelter, told The Pilot. "Getting the children their first sacrament is a step toward becoming a more devout Catholic."
For these families, their children's baptismal records may be the only documentation they have in the U.S.
"That's why they need our love and support so much," Tonies said.
The baptism was one of the few interactions that the migrants have been able to have with the world outside their shelter.
"It's a very difficult situation," volunteer Kris Cole, told The Pilot. "They're trying to find a way to survive."
She visits the shelter every week, and babysits the children "so the parents can have a break." Talking to the families, she has heard horror stories about their time in Haiti.
"They had to leave the rest of their family, their friends, their homes," she said. "It was so bad that they had to leave to come here. They didn't want to come here; they had to leave."
The families are only allowed to live in the shelter for nine months. In that time, they scramble to find jobs, learn English, and enroll their children in school.
"It's terrifying," Tonies said.
A few of the families reached out to Father O'Leary, wanting to have their children baptized. Volunteers with the parish passed out flyers at the shelter and knocked on every family's door to spread the word about the baptism.
"We follow the example of Jesus, who always ministered to those on the fringes of society," Father O'Leary said. "That's the way to lead, so the church tries to protect those on the fringes of society. And who's more on the fringes than immigrants?"
Holy Family Parish is also working to build a playground at the shelter, teach migrants English, and hold a "cooking night" where families can cook for their children, something they have not been able to do since their arrival.
"It's sad in the sense that the mothers just want to cook," Father O'Leary said.
"The only reason Kris and I are involved is to show them that there are people who do care," Coles said. "You can't go there and say this is okay. You have to do something . . . You can't love Jesus on Sunday and ignore his people on Monday."