If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or text “START” to 887888. Free and confidential resources are available 24/7 in Spanish and 290 other languages.

In the heart of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn stands Bethlehem Lutheran Church, built in 1929. Featuring a Gothic-style stained-glass window, a cross at the very top of the church’s right-side tower, and an American flag mounted on a tall silver flagpole on the left side. Inside, sunlight filters through the windows, one of which reads: “God is Love.”

The chapel is frequented by the primarily white congregants who attend the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service. But each week, some visitors from a different background come to Bethlehem Lutheran for a different reason.

Adjacent to the church, behind an unmarked door, is the Healing Center. It has a gray sofa, purple curtains, and a frame with positive affirmations in Spanish: “Soy valiente. Soy inteligente. Yo merezco amor y felicidad.”

“I am brave. I am intelligent. I deserve love and happiness.”

The Trump administration’s aggressive immigration operations have been keeping people away from houses of worship nationwide. But this Brooklyn parish’s congregation isn’t afraid—and they’ve joined forces with a local organization to ensure a vulnerable population in their community—immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault—gets the support it needs.

From the moment visitors step inside Bethlehem Lutheran, the church makes clear that its doors are open to everyone, regardless of race or background.

Pastor Paul Knudsen has led services for 30 years, and in 2014, Tony Clemente joined him as deacon. To see a white pastor and a Puerto Rican deacon leading the service is welcoming, Knudsen said.

“It doesn’t matter who comes through the door,” he added. “We’re going to welcome whoever they are.”

That philosophy of openness is what inspired the partnership between a domestic violence nonprofit and the church.

The Healing Center was founded in 2000 by activist Antonia Clemente, a 72-year resident of nearby Sunset Park and the wife of Deacon Clemente. The idea came from her experience doing work with a support group in a domestic violence shelter. She remembers a woman who would not lift her head to make direct eye contact during a discussion on empowerment, no matter how much Clemente encouraged her.

When she finally did, she saw a scar on the woman’s face.

“I think at that point is where I began to feel a sense of [a] call,” Clemente said.

The New York State Department of Health defines domestic violence as a pattern of behaviors used to establish and maintain power and control over an intimate partner. These can include physical, mental, financial, and verbal abuse, threats, and actions that may or may not constitute criminal acts such as isolation from family and friends, gaslighting, and controlling. Domestic violence can affect anyone—regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality,........

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