About two years ago, when coronavirus cases began to peak in her impoverished San Antonio neighborhood, the Rev. Norma Fuentes-Quintero found herself taking on an additional duty – helping congregants deal with anxiety.
The pastor, who leads El Templo Cristiano Assembly of God, which is largely Latino, has spent hours with one congregant in particular -- a woman with seven children — who was consumed by the fear that the virus would kill her and leave her children motherless.
“Each phone call with her would last 30 minutes to an hour,” Fuentes-Quintero said. “Some days, she would knock on my door. I would give her water, massage her head, and rub her arm until she fell asleep. It got that personal.”
Source: Clergy of color face unprecedented mental health challenges