Pasadena Church That Drew 800 to Immigration Training Holds ‘Allyship’ Session Sunday

All Saints Episcopal Church, where nearly 800 people packed the sanctuary last month for an immigration-defense training that organizers expected only 100, holds a Faith & Formation session on immigration and allyship at 9 a.m. Sunday.

The session at the Euclid Avenue parish is part of an ongoing series of immigration-focused programming at All Saints, which declared itself a sanctuary church in 1983 during the Central American refugee crisis. The session falls within the Epiphany season, during which the Episcopal Church has directed congregations to observe a new annual Migration With Dignity Sunday under a policy framework adopted at the denomination’s 81st General Convention in 2024.

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has asked parishes to mark the observance with prayers and educational resources related to its migration ministry, according to diocesan pre-convention materials. The diocese describes the Sunday and related formation opportunities as “a new entry point for engagement into the work of Sacred Resistance in support of immigrants,” according to the resolution documents.

The Migration With Dignity framework, adopted by the General Convention, declares that all migrants have “a universal right of movement” and “the right to be secure from arbitrary and capricious detention, deportation, and expulsion,” according to the policy documents.

At All Saints, the immigration programming has drawn significant attendance.

In January, the church hosted three immigration-focused events over three consecutive days, offering, according to a Pasadena Now report, different levels of engagement, ranging from public witness to education to direct community action.

The immigration-defense training drew lines stretching down Union Street.

“We expected a hundred people. We had almost 800,” said Patrick Briggs, an All Saints parishioner and vestry member, in a Pasadena Now report on January 26, 2026.

“There were multiple people I know who are Mexican-American, Bolivian, undocumented, with tears in their eyes at the sight of so many people,” Briggs said.

The church’s Immigration Task Force, which works to educate the parish and community about immigration issues and the root causes of migration, organized the January events in collaboration with the Immigration Resource Center.

Separately, 154 Episcopal bishops signed a message in early February calling on Americans to “trust their moral compass — and to question rhetoric that trades in fear rather than the truth,” according to Episcopal News Service.

Sunday’s Faith & Formation session begins at 9 a.m. in Sweetland Hall at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. Information is available at allsaints-pas.org or by calling (626) 796-1172.

“All Saints will make this a very important part of our justice mission,” Briggs said. “Our role is to protect and love our neighbors.”