Bruce Springsteen sat down and wrote a song. In Minneapolis, neighbors are delivering groceries to families too afraid to leave their homes or they’re whistling their disapproval of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents cruising their neighborhoods.

In other cities across the country, citizens and residents are braving record cold to register their outrage with the president’s mass deportation plans. Others object to the administration’s sudden lurch into 19th-century-style gunboat diplomacy and its even older visions of imperial expansion.

Watching this unprecedented wave of civic activism, are you wondering how to get involved but a little unsure about how to proceed? Have you reached a tipping point, but you’re worried about being “political”?

Don’t even use that word, says Elena Gaona, communications director of NETWORK, a Catholic lobby for social justice.

“‘Political’ is such a scary word for a lot of people,” and one not necessary to use in this context, she says. “Really all it means is being civically engaged and paying attention to what’s going on and who our elected leaders are and how to ask them for accountability to us as citizens.”

“Our faith tells us how to live in this world in a way that follows the teachings of Jesus…seeing Jesus in our fellow human beings,” Ms. Gaona says. “And if you look at it that way, there’s nothing scary about it. You’re just trying to live the best life that you can and then trying to support others with solidarity…so that [they] can also live the best life that they can.”

Michele Dunne, O.F.S., suggests starting with prayer. Ms. Dunne, a professed secular Franciscan and the executive director of the Franciscan Action Network, turns to a couple of quotes attributed to Catholic heavy hitters to make her point for her: St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. Francis.

“I used to believe that prayer changes things,” Mother Teresa said, “but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.’’

And from St. Francis: “I have done what was mine to do. May Christ teach you what you are to do.”

“How do we know what is ours to do?” Ms. Dunne asks. We learn that through prayer, which “shows us…which issues we are particularly called to be active on and how to do that in a loving, faith-filled, gospel-rooted way.”

“None of us can do everything,” Ms. Dunne says, “and it’s so easy to become overwhelmed and then just withdraw and do nothing.” Each of us through prayer can see where God is calling us “to be peace builders, to be loving our neighbors, to be living the gospel.”

And more practically speaking, prayerful meetups like many sponsored by F.A.N., through its Franciscan Justice Circles, Pax Christi USA, Ignatian Solidarity Network and many others are terrific networking opportunities and “a great way of being inspired by other people and feeling the support of a community.”

Catholic peacemaking in our time “starts with naming the heaviness of the space we’re in and then refusing to let despair have the last word,” says Jon Gromek, the director of justice formation and action for the Ignatian Solidarity Network.

Mr. Gromek has been gratified to see how our times have been met by both laypeople at the parish level and among the bishops and priests who are leading the church. He notes that “Taken, Broken, Shared: Catholic Witness Today,” a 75-minute Zoom vigil and call to action on Jan. 28, drew 3,500 lay Catholics and clergy together to share stories and to strategize a way ahead.

“We each have our own thing that we can do,” he says, “and when we do those little things together, that’s when we do great, big things that are heeding the call of our faith to respond to these moments…building this beloved community we’re all working toward.”

Finding inspiration and courage in a local church is a great first step for many, but if you’re ready for more, “then join others who also want to take action,” Ms. Gaona says. Many folks may be fortunate to find a parish or church ministry that can sponsor or guide that action. Others can reach out to national groups like Network and I.S.N. that sponsor training and offer resources that can guide effective civic engagement.

Most people will find a way to participate that matches their comfort level, Ms. Gaona says. “You can sign the letter; you can listen to webinars; you can get more educated. There are now a lot of physical places where we can show up and be in community together at the same time that we raise our voice.”

“See what’s going on in your local area, so that you can respond to the context in which you live,” says Judy Coode, communications director for Pax Christi USA, the U.S. arm of the church’s international peacemaking campaign.

“We love subsidiarity, and we’d love it if there happens to be a Pax Christi group that’s already established in your area.” But if there isn’t one, she assures, the national office is ready to assist in creating one for Christians willing to take up that responsibility.

Pax Christi USA encourages folks to make a public witness, she says, to “put a public face on our faith.” That does not mean “necessarily” risking arrest, she hurries to add. “It could just mean holding a prayerful vigil.”

She describes a number of such vigils that have been conducted in recent weeks outside ICE detention centers and county jails around the country. Those events may not create the same drama of the ICEwatch actions that have been generating headlines in Minneapolis. But they do bring attention to the detention sites that have been hidden away in hard-to-reach areas and urban industrial sites, shining a light on the implications of the administration’s deportation ambitions.

She notes the fast evolution of parish-based food banks and grocery delivery systems in response to the crisis faced by families afraid to leave their homes as opportunities for involvement. Other innovative ideas she’s seen during this time of turmoil are community based “walking school buses” that accompany children and parents from immigrant families who have grown frightened of encountering ICE or Border Patrol agents on their way to their elementary schools. “It’s terrible that people are scared to take their children to school, but on the other hand, it’s been beautiful” how the community has responded, Ms. Coode says. “And they’ve been consistent. They haven’t let up; these neighbors have stepped up and created this whole system with each other to take care of it.”

But seizing opportunities to become involved at the national level are also essential. Events on the street in Minneapolis and the stream of threatening postures and statements from the White House toward other nations can be seen as part of a whole, according to Ms. Dunne. “A through-line here is the use of force, and in many cases excessive force, and violence to resolve issues,” she says.

Something else that connects the administration’s domestic and international ambitions is their reliance on federal spending. Interrupt the spending, she points out, and resistors interrupt the agenda.

Among the budget issues under review in Washington this week is new spending for the Department of Homeland Security (blocked in the Senate on Jan. 29). Important questions about the behavior and policies of ICE, the Border Patrol and other D.H.S. entities remain unresolved, Ms. Dunne says, adding that the spending itself is excessive and a diversion from domestic social welfare programs.

She encourages folks who are considering getting more involved to reach out to their congressional representatives, to make the call or send the letter or email to express their views. Some may wonder if such small gestures could possibly have an impact, but Ms. Dunne is certain that members of Congress are keeping a careful tally of each email and each call.

“Members of Congress often will either change their position on an issue or they’ll decide how much energy to put into one issue or another based on where their constituents are on that issue,” she explains. “And how do they know that? They know that by how many of their constituents speak up.”

In the coming weeks, many more opportunities for citizen involvement are being planned by Catholic organizations involved in social action efforts to address peacemaking and the administration’s mass deportation effort. Among them, Pax Christi USA will be organizing resources and tracking events through a new campaign, STAND—Solidarity to advocate for neighbors’ dignity.

More from America

A deeper dive

The Weekly Dispatch takes a deep dive into breaking events and issues of significance around our world and our nation today, providing the background readers need to make better sense of the headlines speeding past us each week. For more news and analysis from around the world, visit Dispatches. This week, the death of Alex Pretti was the focus of sorrow across the Twin Cities and a former Irish president asks: Is infant baptism a threat to human rights?

Kevin Clarke is America’s chief correspondent and the author of Oscar Romero: Love Must Win Out (Liturgical Press).