En Marcha: Spring 2005
(Taken from La Red’s “Weaving the Future Together” Manual)
The First National Encuentro for Hispanic Youth and Young Adult Ministry, convoked by
The National Catholic Network de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana (La Red), is a local process which will lead to a national event.
The local process will encourage the participation of parishes, dioceses and regions, spearheaded by the diocesan coordinator for Hispanic youth and young adult ministry in collaboration with the diocesan offices for Hispanic ministry and youth and young adult ministry as co-lead agents, or by whom the Bishop appoints to perform this task.
The national event will take place in June 8-11, 2006 at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Participants will include bishops, Hispanic youth and young adults, diocesan coordinators for Hispanic Youth and Young Adult Ministry (
Pastoral Juvenil), diocesan directors for Hispanic Ministry, Youth Ministry, Young Adult Ministry, Vocations and parish youth ministers. Diocesan directors for Catechesis, Education, Evangelization and Social Concerns are encouraged to participate. The cost for the national event will be $275, which includes lodging, meals and all materials (some scholarships are available for young people).
Who is participating?
Ministry with, to and from Hispanic young people in the United Sates is referred to as Pastoral Juvenil in the Hispanic ministry network. It includes young people from three major age-groups: 14-17; 18-24; and 24-30. The process of Encuentro is intended to engage Hispanic young people from these three age-groups at the parish and diocesan level. Each region can decide the age of the participant at that level. The National Encuentro is for Hispanic young people 18 years or older. The diversity in the life experience of Hispanic youth and young adults is taken into account:
- Foreign-born and U.S.-born Hispanics with roots in the various Latin American countries and Spain, including Latin American Indians
- Migrant workers, urban and suburban residents
- High school and college students, professionals and military personnel.
- The local process will include an outreach effort to involve Hispanic young people at risk and those who are incarcerated.
Our common goal
The central goal of the First Encuentro is to engage Hispanic young people and the professional leadership in Hispanic and Youth and Youth Adult ministry in a process of encounter-conversion-communion-solidarity and mission that can empower Hispanic young people into a more active, enthusiastic and influential participation in the life and mission of the Church in the United States.
Specific objectives
- Through a consultation process, identify and reflect on the needs, aspirations and contributions of Hispanic Catholic young people within the Church and in society.
- Through a formation in action process, foster the leadership and skills development of Hispanic Catholic young people already involved in ministry, while reaching out to those who do not yet participate in the life of the Church.
- Through a discernment process, develop a common vision and pastoral principles that will guide ministry to, with and from Hispanic youth and young adults in parishes, dioceses and Catholic institutions and organizations.
- Through an assessment process, identify and promote best practices and ministry models that effectively help Hispanic young people mature as disciples of Christ.
- Through a communion in mission process, develop strategies and provide the resources necessary to equip parishes, dioceses and Catholic organizations and institutions for ministry among Hispanic young people.
NOTE:
If you would like more information on the upcoming national event, please contact Carolyn R. Adrian at: cradrian@cableone.net
Also, if you wish to download a copy of the “Weaving the Future Together” Manual to start the process at the parish, diocesan or regional level, please check our website: www.usccb.org/hispanicaffairs, then click on “Projects and Collaborations” and then on “Manual- Youth Encuentro”.
We wish to share with our readers the statement that Bishop James Tamayo, Chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Hispanic Affairs, delivered on May 10, 2005 in Gaithersburg, MD during the official launch of Justice for Immigrants: The Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform.
Good morning. I am pleased to be here with Cardinal McCarrick and others to announce the beginning of the
Justice for Immigrants Catholic campaign. I hail from an area on the U.S.–Mexico border where, everyday, we witness the human consequences of a broken immigration system. Our experience on the border is far from the vision of the Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed: many who seek to migrate are suffering, and, in some cases, tragically dying; communities are divided; and racist and xenophobic attitudes remain.
From my perspective on the border, I welcome the
Justice for Immigrants campaign because Catholics are involved in all aspects of the migration phenomenon: they are enforcement officers; local, state, and national elected officials; community residents and parish members; and migrants themselves. But often members of our faith work at cross purposes or against each other, leading to division and rancor in local communities and in our parishes. With education and through prayer, we hope, through the Campaign, to bring Catholics of differing perspectives together to find a humane solution to our immigration crisis.
We also are launching the
Justice for Immigrants campaign because the U.S. Catholic bishops are united in the view that the status quo is unacceptable and that comprehensive immigration reform is needed. We can no longer accept a situation in which some public officials and members of our communities scapegoat immigrants at the same time our nation benefits from their labor. We can no longer accept a status quo in which migrants are compelled to risk their lives in order to support their families. We can no longer accept a reality in which migrants fill jobs critical to Americans and U.S. employers without receiving appropriate wages and benefits. We can no longer tolerate the death of human beings in the desert.
Since 1994, the U.S. government has spent billions of dollars attempting to enforce the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite dramatic increases in Border Patrol agents, technology, and fencing, migrants desperate to find work still attempt to cross dangerous treks of the desert, often turning to unscrupulous smugglers for assistance. During this same period, the number of undocumented in our nation has almost doubled and, most tragically, close to 2800 migrants have perished.
As bishops, we attempt to highlight the moral dimensions of public issues. Clearly, because of the suffering imposed by a broken system, comprehensive immigration reform is a moral imperative. We call upon our elected officials, particularly President Bush and members of Congress, to expeditiously enact legislation which 1) provides a path to permanent residency for immigrants and their families; 2) creates a worker program which ensures the rights of all workers; 3) reforms our family-based immigration system to reduce waiting times for family reunification; and 4) restores due process protections for immigrants so that families are not divided. Such legislation, we believe, will make our nation more secure by bringing immigrants “out of the shadows” and helping law enforcement distinguish between those who help us and those who seek to harm us.
As a universal church, we also urge our policymakers to seek solutions to the root causes of migration, so that migrants may remain at home and support themselves and their families.
We stand at a crucial time in our history. We must take bold action, not only to ensure that our nation is safe, but also to ensure that we remain an open and diverse society.
Thank you.
Most Rev. James Tamayo
Bishop of Laredo
Chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Hispanic Affairs
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
The Gospel calls us to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to every human situation. As ministers among Hispanic Catholics, it is impossible to ignore the issues that impact the Hispanic community the most—Immigration and Health Care Reform. Other issues that impact the community include poverty and the impact of trade agreements, the foreign debt, and aid to poor countries; bringing an end to the death penalty; and, a call for peace in the Holy Land.
Pope John Paul II reminded us in his 1988 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on
The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World “two temptations can be cited which (the lay faithful) have not always known how to avoid: 1) the temptation of being so strongly interested in Church services and tasks that some fail to become actively engaged in their responsibilities in the professional, social, cultural and political world; and 2) the temptation of legitimizing the unwarranted separation of faith from life, that is, a separation of the Gospel’s acceptance from the actual living of the Gospel in various situations in the world.” (p.7).
Given Catholic social teaching, I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on several issues campaigns the Bishops of the United States are working on that are long-term in nature, though they could also have short term aspects to them. These issues have a local impact on all peoples but we as Catholics often go unaware of the global nature and origins of these issues.
Immigration Reform Campaign: A number of Catholic organizations with national networks, convened by the USCCB Department of Migration and Refugee Services, have formed a national campaign to support a broad legalization program and comprehensive immigration reform. The goal is to maximize the Church’s influence on this issue. The campaign’s four primary objectives include: 1) to educate the public about Church teaching on migration and immigrants; 2) to create political will for positive immigration reform; 3) to enact legislative and administrative reforms as articulated by the US Bishops; and 4) to organize Catholic networks to assist qualified immigrants obtain the benefits of the reforms. This is a multi-year campaign.
Health Care for All Campaign: The US Bishops have launched a campaign in an effort to unite Catholics around the common message: “In this, the wealthiest of nations, it is unacceptable that so many people do not have access to affordable health care.” They quote Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Peace on Earth which declared health care among those basic rights which flow from the sanctity and dignity of human Life. The Bishops also quote Pope John Paul II in
On Human Work, which focused on the availability and affordability of health care for workers. The focus of the campaign is based on the U.S. Bishops’
Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform which calls for: 1) Respect for Life—Whether it preserves and enhances human life form from conception to natural death. 2) Priority Concern for the Poor—Whether it gives special priority to health care needs of the poor, ensuring that their health care is quality health care. 3) Universal Access to Comprehensive Benefits—Whether it provides universal access to comprehensive benefits sufficient to maintain and promote good health. 4) Pursing the Common Good and Preserving Pluralism—Whether it allows and encourages the involvement of all sectors, including the religious and voluntary sectors, in all aspects of health care, ensuring respect for the ethical and religious values of consumers and providers.
A Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services invite Catholics throughout the U.S. to join in the campaign as advocates for U.S. policies that foster economic and social development for people living in poverty throughout the world. The campaign focuses in three areas: 1)
Trade: Shaping U.S. trade policies so that overcoming poverty and promoting human development are central priorities; 2)
Aid: Supporting effective programs that foster long-term development and empowerment of the poor; and 3)
Debt: Eliminating the debt of the poorest countries in ways that reduce poverty and promote human dignity. The campaign calls people of faith to accept their responsibility to work for answers that protect the lives and dignity of all God’s children.
Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty: The US Bishops stated in 1999 “We cannot overcome crime by simply executing criminals, nor can we restore the lives of the innocent by ending the lives of those convicted of their murders. The death penalty offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life.” John Paul II challenged the followers of Christ to be “unconditionally pro life,” willing to “proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation.” He reminded us that dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. “Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform” (27). The cases where society could not defend itself, according to the Holy Father, “are very rare if not practically nonexistent.” The Gospel of Life, #56, 1995.
What you can do… 1)
Pray for victims of crime and their families, those who have been wrongly convicted, and those awaiting execution. 2)
Learn about Catholic Social Teaching, U.S. Criminal Justice policies, and the policies of your state…3)
Educate people in your parish or community about Catholic social teaching and the criminal justice system. 4)
Advocate by contacting your elected officials. Discuss Catholic teaching on the death penalty at the national level or to link with particular state’s efforts.
Catholic Campaign for Peace in the Holy Land: This is an inter-religious initiative that engages Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders and communities in a coordinated effort to promote a just peace in the Middle East. The campaign builds upon and complements the ongoing efforts of the USCCB to pursue a just peace. The Catholic Campaign is launched for three reasons: 1) Our faith demands it; 2) Our Church leaders call us to it. Our Church is well situated to build bridges. The campaign calls on local bishops and diocesan leaders to convene or join local inter-religious initiatives for peace modeled on the national initiative.
Please find the complete document on these campaigns at
www.usccb.org. Much valuable information can be found under “Departments and Activities.” After opening the site, look under Hispanic Affairs, Social Development and World Peace and/or under Migration and Refugee Services. You will be surprised at how much you will find. Much of the information is also found in the Spanish language. Let us live our faith with a commitment to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to every human situation. Peace,
Ron Cruz
(CNS) Citing reasons as broad as Catholic teaching about the right to migrate to improve one's life and as narrow as one Guyana emigrant's need to support his family, more than a dozen church organizations and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops May 10 launched a campaign called Justice for Immigrants.
The program is intended to educate the public, and Catholics in particular, about how immigration and immigrants benefit the nation; to improve public opinion about the contributions of immigrants; to advocate for changes in immigration laws and policies; and to organize networks that assist immigrants with legal problems.
Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, a consultant to the USCCB's Committee on Migration, said at a press conference announcing the campaign that the bishops "have grown increasingly disturbed by the current public discourse surrounding immigrants, in which newcomers are characterized as a threat to our nation and not a benefit."
"Anti-immigrant fervor on TV and radio shows, citizens attempting to enforce immigration laws, and, most disturbingly, the enactment of restrictive immigration laws are evidence of this negative public environment," he said. Those in ministry at parishes, schools, hospitals and social service agencies see the effects of that environment daily -- in families kept apart by years of waiting for visas and by deportations or detention policies, he added.
Celia Rivas, director of immigration services at the Spanish Catholic Center of the Archdiocese of Washington, said in the 14 years she has worked at the center she has seen many people lose hope as years go by with families still kept apart by borders. Changes in immigration law in the late 1990s and tougher approaches to how immigrants are handled mean that 10, 15 or 20 years can go by before immigrant families can be reunited, she said.
Rivas said having so many "broken families" is a factor in the growth of gangs, the increase in domestic violence and more mental health problems seen in people who seek help from the church. "We're becoming like emergency rooms," she said. "We have to have a triage center to establish what we need to do."
One client of the Washington Archdiocese's legal services for immigrants, Clarence Coleridge, described his seven years of frustration as he waited for a work permit that would enable him to support his family. "It's amazing what we go through just to acquire our rightful documents," he said, explaining that for a time he could not even visit his daughter's school because he did not have the kind of identification the school required.
Cardinal McCarrick said that, as President George W. Bush and others have acknowledged, "our immigration system is broken and badly needs repair." He praised Bush for saying changes need to be made to the U.S. immigration system and policies.
"If he hadn't begun the conversation, this issue wouldn't be on the table," he said. But the president's proposal for a guest worker program that includes options for those already here to legalize their status "doesn't really touch those family issues," Cardinal McCarrick said.
The concerns of separated families are at the core of the church's campaign, he said. "One of the goals of our campaign is to try to change those laws so that immigrants can support their families in dignity, families can remain united and the human rights of all are respected." But before laws can be changed, the cardinal acknowledged, "we must change attitudes, including those of many of our own flock."
Bishop James A. Tamayo of Laredo, Texas, said it is crucial that people understand immigrants are contributing to the success of the United States, "they're paying taxes, they're helping us develop and grow." Instead of treating immigrants as scapegoats for terrorist attacks or other problems in society, Bishop Tamayo said people need to be taught the church's moral reasoning for supporting immigrants.
Some people came into the United States illegally when "they couldn't get through the system because of its abuses or because it just needs repairing," he noted. "They're also crying out for justice and need our help."
Bishop Tamayo told Catholic News Service after the press conference that in his diocese on the U.S.-Mexican border people are used to seeing the area, regardless of the border, as one big community. But he recognizes that elsewhere in the country people are not quite so ready to think of immigrants as "our brothers in Christ" or to share Pope John Paul II's vision of a "church without borders," as enunciated in "Ecclesia in America," a 1999 apostolic exhortation.
The Justice for Immigrants campaign will use parish-based educational materials to address that problem. Leo Anchondo, national manager of the campaign, said parishes nationwide will be receiving materials such as sermon ideas, background information and suggestions for parish activities.
Cardinal McCarrick said just as Catholics have begun to shift away from their support for the death penalty as information about its flaws has become understood so will the anti-immigrant views begin to fade as people begin to hear another side of the story. "Ten, 20 years ago, the vast majority of people approved the use of the death penalty," he said. "Now it's closer to 50-50." By putting human faces on the issues of immigration and explaining the failings of the system, he said, "we will try to raise the level of consciousness of the public and of Catholic people."
Several USCCB offices are part of the campaign: Migration and Refugee Services, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the Office of Domestic Social Development, the Office of International Justice and Peace, the Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. Other organizations involved in Justice for Immigrants include: the Catholic Health Association, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, the National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors of Hispanic Ministry, the National Council of Catholic Women, the National Catholic Educational Association, the U.S. Jesuit Conference, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors, the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network, Irish Apostolate USA and Roundtable, an association of diocesan social action directors.
For more information, please visit: English: www.justiceforimmigrants.org
(CNS) Illegal immigrants "are not free-loaders" but hard-working people who are seeking better lives for their families because social and economic improvements are not readily available to the Latin American poor, said a Guatemalan bishop.
"Some call them 'illegals.' But according to the market model, they are better described as entrepreneurs without assets, pursuing the American dream," said Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini Imeri of San Marcos, Guatemala.
"They work hard, often in several jobs, supporting a way of life that many take for granted," he said April 13 in written testimony delivered before the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
Bishop Ramazzini testified at a hearing on the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA, between the United States and five Central American countries. Negotiators for the six countries have agreed on a text, but the accord still has to be ratified by the United States and several other countries.
Better salaries and better working conditions are the main reasons Latin Americans come to the United States, he said.
Working conditions in Central America will only get worse under the proposed free trade agreement, as this pact threatens "to lock in a much lower level of protection for workers and their families," he added.
"Poor working conditions make for bad economics. Without enforceable labor rights that are part of trade agreements with sanctions for noncompliance applied to them, we will not raise standards of labor and standards of living in my country," said the bishop.
"I know of repeated instances where workers were treated in a way that would be against basic labor law in the United States," he said. "Industrial workers, equipped with the basic rights to have a say in the workplace, were key to the growth of a middle class in your nation," and formed "a key element in making the United States the economic powerhouse it is today," said Bishop Ramazzini.
"This is not happening in Central America and it will not happen as long as hundreds of thousands of workers are suppressed, not empowered, at the workplace," he said.
Guatemala is among the 10 worst Latin American countries regarding unequal income distribution and needs to develop a strong middle class for economic and political stability, he said. In Guatemala, 56 percent of the population is poor and 16 percent is extremely poor, he said.
Policies governing trade need to be integrated with development programs if life for the poor is to improve, he said. "Trade policies need to be complemented by institutional reforms and a broader development framework that affords each person their right to participate in a market that is fair and compassionate," he added.
Bishop Ramazzini also questioned whether Guatemalan farmers could compete with subsidized U.S. agricultural products if tariff barriers were dropped.
"Our farmers are hard-working" but they "cannot compete against the U.S. Treasury and the $170 billion subsidies granted in your farm bill of 2002," he said. Almost 25 percent of Guatemala's gross national product comes from farming, he said.
The bishop also questioned the long-term benefit of CAFTA to poor countries, saying its approval could override more favorable terms being negotiated worldwide by the World Trade Organization.
"It is widely expected that low-income developing countries, such as Guatemala, will be afforded 'special and differential treatment' under World Trade Organization rules currently being negotiated," he said.
"CAFTA will likely trump such measures that are designed to allow developing countries the time and space to foster integral human development," he said. Rather than concentrating on making it easier for goods to cross borders, trade pacts "must look at trade policies from the bottom up -- from their impact on the lives and dignity of poor families and vulnerable workers across the hemisphere," he said.
Bishop Ramazzini's testimony is the latest in a series of efforts by Latin American bishops to criticize aspects of free trade agreements being promoted by the United States.
Last June, Bishop Ramazzini was part of a delegation of Central American bishops visiting the United States to discuss their criticisms of CAFTA with church and government officials. Last July, the Central American and U.S. bishops issued a joint statement outlining objections.
In February, a delegation of bishops from the Andean countries in South America visited the United States to air similar criticisms.
Church officials have said that they are not opposed to the concept of free trade, but are objecting to specific treaties they have judged to be prejudicial to the Latin American poor.
Pope Benedict XVI has named a new Hispanic bishop who will serve as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Seattle.
Bishop-elect Eusebio L. Elizondo, M.Sp.S. serves as pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Bothell, Washington. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made the announcement.
Bishop-elect Eusebio Elizondo was born August 8, 1954, at Victoria, Tamaulipas in Mexico. He was in the novitiate of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, in Mexico City, from 1972 to 1974. He completed studies in Philosophy at Guadalajara and Theology at the Gregorian University, Rome, earning a degree in Canon Law.
After making his religious profession, he was ordained a priest August 18, 1984, in Mexico City. In the first years of his priestly ministry, Bishop-elect Elizondo was assigned to the novitiate at Queretaro, Mexico, and in California, where he was rector of Theology. In 1998 he became pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, in Oxnard, California, and in 2000 was named pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Bothell.
CNS - The 30th general assembly of the Latin American bishops' council held in Lima, Peru, ended with a call for the formation of disciples and missionaries.
In the May 20 closing statement of the council, known by its Spanish acronym CELAM, the bishops noted that they had celebrated the council's 50th anniversary and "the providential action of God, which has helped it grow in episcopal fraternity and find responses to the many challenges that our churches have faced during these years."
Much of the discussion at the 30th general assembly, which began May 17, focused on the need to form disciples and make the Latin American church more missionary, topics that will also be on the agenda of the fifth general conference.
"The phrase 'that our peoples may have life' is key, given the situation in our countries," said Archbishop Baltazar Porras Cardozo of Mérida, Venezuela, president of the CELAM communications department.
Among the problems he cited were "increasing poverty, marginalization, violence with all its different characteristics, and political and economic instability," as well as the effects of free trade agreements being negotiated by many Latin American countries with the United States.
The Latin American church must encourage lay people to play a more decisive role, in light of their faith, in solving their countries' problems, Bishop Carlos Aguilar Retes of Texcoco, Mexico, first vice president of CELAM, said at a press conference after the assembly.
"That is what we haven't seen in Latin America," the Mexican bishop said. "We have presidents, business people and professionals who are believers, who openly claim to be Catholic, but when we see the unjust distribution of wealth and the abysmal differences in the distribution of resources, we have to ask, where is the Catholic faith?"
During the meeting, which was attended by about 80 prelates from around the region, the bishops received a message from Pope Benedict XVI, approving the proposed Latin American bishops' fifth general conference, tentatively scheduled for early 2007.
General conferences are designed to set overall direction for the Latin American church, while assemblies allow the bishops to discuss more specifically how to put those guidelines into action.
"We want the fifth conference to be a stimulus for the Catholic Church to contribute to solving the many serious problems that our peoples are suffering," said Bishop Aguilar.
The fifth general conference will be followed by another CELAM assembly, to be held in Havana -- the first time such a meeting will be held in Cuba.
One great challenge for the church "is the problem of consistency between what people believe and what they practice," Bishop Aguilar said.
"That is why the fifth general conference will focus on discipleship. We want to reflect on and reshape our way of being disciples of Christ, so that our peoples may have life, and that there may be a decent life for all people,” he said.
The emphasis on discipleship will be accompanied by efforts to train missionaries for work within the region and abroad.
The church needs to send missionaries not just to traditional mission countries, but to accompany Latin Americans who have emigrated to places like the United States, Europe and Japan.
"That's a responsibility that we have as the church in Latin America, since we have about half the world's Catholics," Archbishop Porras said. ?
By Hector Rodriguez, President CMFN
The Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network (CMFN) was founded in the aftermath of the III Encuentro Nacional Hispano de Pastoral. The Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs had sponsored several gatherings of farmworker pastoral agents in an effort to ensure that the nation’s farmworkers would not be totally absent in the III Encuentro process.
The plight of farm workers tends to be chronically absent from the nation’s consciousness. “Out of sight-out of mind” seems to be the operative phrase here. In bringing Zeferino Gonzalez, Reyes Ruiz, Fr. Dick Notter and others together to plan ways to include migrants in the extensive preparatory process of the Encuentro, the Secretariat began a dialogue which did not end at the III Encuentro. The year after the 1985 grand event, the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network was born.
Fr. Dick Notter was the first director, Celine Caufield was the second, and Hector R. Rodriguez is the third. Between the terms of Fr. Notter and Ms. Caufield, Sr. Adela Gross, OSF, held the network together tightly. It was during that interim period that CMFN’s board of directors called for a national consultation on migrant ministry. With the help of the Lilly Foundation, this event was held in 1995 in Techny, Illinois. Sr. Adela’s successor in the Office of Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees is Sr. Charlotte Hobelman, SND. The CMFN board of directors serves as an advisory group for the migrant ministry section of PCMR headed by Sr. Charlotte.
Three years ago, the CMFN board decided to hold another national consultation. Funding is not available this time around and requests have been made to bishops, religious communities and other friends of farm workers. With God’s help and with the support of many, a second national consultation
encuentro on migrant ministry will be held within the next year at a location and date to be announced soon. Surveys were sent last year to diocesan offices with a request that pastoral visits be made with individual migrant farm workers and rural immigrants, and that an interview form be submitted for each one visited, as well as a diocesan survey on immigrant and migrant ministry.
The upcoming
encuentro will bring migrant farm workers, rural immigrants and their pastoral agents to review the survey data and to draw conclusions on the directions for migrant ministry in the next five to ten years. Working closely with the Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs, as well as the Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees in the Department of Migration and Refugee Services at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, we hope that the consulta process and the conclusions of the upcoming encuentro will provide some of the ingredients for a future pastoral plan on migrant ministry.
Even with the dedicated efforts of those who prepared the III Encuentro, and after the promulgation of the
National Pastoral Plan on Hispanic Ministry in 1987 and
Communion and Mission in 2002, there is still a need for a pastoral plan for migrant ministry. The challenges in this ministry are very much the same as twenty, thirty, forty years ago. While clearly many improvements have been made in some areas, there is still a great need for the farm workers and rural immigrants in our midst to be properly welcomed and served. This pastoral service must include outreach, evangelization, catechesis, and liturgy. Meeting the physical, social, and educational needs of these newcomers in our midst must achieve a higher priority in our pastoral programs and budgets. Working with the various farm worker unions and in concert with the Immigration Reform efforts of the Bishops ought to be a part of our overall efforts in migrant ministry.
I ask you to please take stock of the migrant ministry program in your diocese and reflect on how you would like to see it develop in the light of
Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope, and other recent documents on Migration. Get in conversation with the diocesan bishop and other leaders in immigrant and migrant ministry, and in conversation with us about how to make this year one in which we ratchet up our interest in, and service of, those men and women (and their children) who harvest our food in the fields, in the dairies and in the beef, hog and chicken factories of this nation we call home. Please contact:
Hector R. Rodriguez,
Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network
6960 Sunfleck Row, Columbia, MD 21045
Tel: 410-312-9113 Cell: 443-768-3537
hector@comcast.net
CNS - The ordination class of 2005 continues to reflect a trend toward older, better educated men with a substantial percentage born in foreign countries, according to a survey report by sociologist Dean Hoge, PhD.
Hoge, who heads the Life Cycle Institute of The Catholic University of America, wrote the report after considering trends in ordination classes since 1998 and comparing them with data on the men being ordained in 2005. “The average age at ordination rose from 34.8 to 37.0,” Hoge said.
“The level of education prior to entering the seminary rose,” Hoge added. “Whereas in 1998, 30 percent had less than a B.A. or B.S. degree, in the 2005 sample only 28 percent had less than a B.A. or B.S. degree. Correspondingly, the percentage who had received a master’s degree or a professional degree beyond the B.A. rose from 13 to 32. This is a notable change in only seven years.” Among those being ordained are Augustus Puleo, who was a university professor before entering the seminary.
“The percentage born outside the U.S. rose from 24 to 27 percent. The four principal countries of birth today are Vietnam, Mexico, Philippines and Poland,” Hoge said. The ordinands include Piotr Gnoinski, of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who was born in Poland; Thienan Tran, of the Diocese of Syracuse, who was born in Vietnam; Rommel Tolentino, of the Diocese of Lake Charles, Louisiana, who was born in the Philippines; and Juan Antonio Romo Romo, of the Society of the Divine Word, who was born in Mexico.
Hoge based his “Report on Survey of 2005 Priestly Ordination” on results of a survey conducted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ vocations office. By the March 31 survey deadline there were 286 responses, 251 from diocesan ordinands and 35 from ordinands in religious congregations. Not all dioceses and religious orders responded. Half of the diocesan ordinands are under age 35, including James Carter, 26, of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, a student at the Pontifical North American College and one of three men being ordained for the diocese this year. Four percent are over 60, including 70-year-old Joseph Lang, a widowed father of three.
Asian or Pacific Islanders make up 12 percent of all the ordinands, a percentage substantially higher than the estimated two to three percent of the Asians or Pacific Islanders in the total U.S. Catholic population. They include Benjamin Nguyen of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, who attended the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.
The percentage of Hispanic/Latino seminarians dropped to 10 percent this year. Last year it was 12 percent. The figure is significantly lower than the 25-30 percent of Catholics estimated to be Hispanic/Latino. Only one percent of the Class of 2005 is African American. African Americans constitute three to four percent of the Catholic Church in the United States.
For 2005, the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have the largest number of ordinands with 16 and 15 men, respectively.
Catholic education is suggested to be a significant factor in cultivating vocations. “The levels of Catholic schooling among the ordinands does not differ from that in the total U.S. Catholic population. For example, in a 1993 Gallup survey, 54 percent of Catholics 54 or younger reported that they had attended Catholic elementary school. Among the ordinands, 53 percent reported having attended Catholic elementary school,” Hoge said.
“But the ordinands show higher rates of attending Catholic high school than the general U.S. population: 40 percent compared to only 26 percent in the general U.S. population,” Hoge said.
“In the cohort of 35 to 54 years old in the general population, only 10 percent attended a Catholic college, compared to 45 percent of the ordinands of 2005”, Hoge said. They include Jesuit Mark Carr, who graduated from Jesuit-run Marquette University, and Jesuit Casey Beaumier, an alumnus of Jesuit-run St. Louis University. Both men are members of the Wisconsin Jesuit Province.
Six percent of the ordinands are converts to the Catholic faith. The range of age at conversion is from 11 to 35.
“On the average, the ordinands converted to Catholicism at 22.2 years of age,” Hoge said. Alonzo Garcia, who will be ordained for the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, converted when he was 12. Tyson Wood, from the Archdiocese of Baltimore, served as a Lutheran pastor for six years before joining the Catholic Church. He said he found his call to priesthood while serving in the military.
Many of the ordinands took part in diocesan and parish vocation programs. Thirty-nine percent attended “Come and See” diocesan programs, (a time to visit a seminary or monastery in order to learn more) and 20 percent attended parish vocation programs. A solid number were involved in their parishes, with 59 percent involved as Eucharistic ministers, 76 percent as altar servers, and 68 percent as lectors. Fifty-three percent attended religious retreats. In addition, 27 percent had participated in World Youth Day, including Jesuit Casey Beaumier and Angel Perez-Lopez of the Archdiocese of Denver.
Only 217 ordinands mentioned full-time employment before entering the seminary. Of them, 14 percent worked in education, including Jesuit Mark Carr. Fourteen percent worked in labor and farming, including John Paul Gardner, a farmer from the Bismarck diocese. Seven percent worked in banking, including Kevin Sandberg of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, who worked in financial services/securities.
Five percent cited work in the military, including Michael Morris of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, who was a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and Middle East analyst. He was encouraged to enter the priesthood by a military chaplain and expects to return to the Air Force as a chaplain in 2008. Four percent worked in nursing, including Thomas Quinn; and two percent in law, including Mark Kramer, SJ.
Bishop Blase Cupich, chairman of the USCCB Vocations Committee, noted the wide-ranging background of the Class of 2005. "It is heartening to know that these men are coming from all walks of life and the ranks of the priesthood are being filled by candidates from such diverse backgrounds," Bishop Cupich said. "These men will enrich the Church. They offer great promise."
(CNS) Many Hispanic Catholics in the United States mourned the death of Pope John Paul II as if he were a family member and honored him with the spontaneity that marks Latino culture.
When the news that the pope had died April 2 reached the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, students interrupted classes and used tables to construct little altars, known as "altarcitos" in Spanish. Adorned with candles, flowers and photos of the pope, the "altarcitos" in the center's lobby and chapel paid homage to him in the way Hispanics honor dead family members.
The lobby "altarcito" originally had a picture of the pope when he was in San Antonio during his 1987 visit to the United States, said Mercy Sister Maria Elena Gonzalez, president of the cultural center. "Now people are bringing their own photos of the pope to share with us," she told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview.
In Corpus Christi, Texas, Carrie Gonzalez emerged from a memorial Mass "very sad and emotional" as she tied the pope's life to hers. "I was in the 10th grade when he became pope. When he was shot, we went through that with him. He's just part of your family, part of your religion, part of your life," she told the South Texas Catholic, newspaper of the Corpus Christi Diocese.
At leadership training courses in Richmond, Va., and Grand Rapids, Mich., participants stopped their studies and quickly organized their own memorial services.
"We sang. Everybody said a word or phrase related to the pope," said Elisa Montalvo, Hispanic apostolate director for the Richmond Diocese.
Terms used by the 70 participants after they learned April 2 of the death included "courage," "inspiration," "love of youth," "accompaniment" and "peace," she told CNS.
At a similar commemoration in Grand Rapids, people added the terms "servant," "missionary" and "leader."
"The feeling was it would be difficult for anyone to follow this act," said Jesuit Father Thomas Florek, director of the Midwest Cultural Leadership Institute, who organized the Grand Rapids leadership workshop for 50 people.
Sister Gonzalez said the "altarcitos" mushroomed spontaneously. "Soon people were bringing candles and whatever flowers they had in their gardens," she said.
An "altarcito" is normally set up in homes and is the way "we honor the dead in Hispanic culture," she said.
There are three stages of death: a person dies, a person is buried and a person is forgotten, she said.
"The 'altarcito' is our way of saying we will never forget our dead," said Sister Gonzalez. With the "altarcito," Hispanics are saying the pope "is now forever our brother," she added.
Father Florek said that Pope John Paul's travels to Latin America and the United States resonated with immigrant Hispanics.
"Hispanics appreciate someone who has left his country to visit theirs," he said. This is especially true for migrants, often not welcomed when they lived in their country of origin or upon their arrival in the United States, he said.
Sister Gonzalez said the pope also "was an anchor of faith" for U.S. Hispanics who had seen much of the traditional religious practices popular in their home countries fading away after the Second Vatican Council. She cited Marian devotions and eucharistic processions and adorations. "He helped us to feel more rooted in the religious practices we grew up with," she said.
The pope was devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe and canonized Juan Diego, the 16th-century Indian who saw the Guadalupe vision, she said.
The sainthood of Juan Diego also has meaning for the poor, she said. "They can identify with someone privileged in God's eyes even though not important to society," she said.
CNS - More than 50 U.S. parishes received a total of more than $120,000 to enhance their music, liturgy and worship experience in the latest round of grants from the OCP Parish Grants program, begun five years ago by Oregon Catholic Press.
Portland Archbishop John G. Vlazny, president of the publishing company's board of directors, said the grants program extends the company's commitment to service and charity outside Oregon.
"For years, OCP has served the needs of parish communities through its music and liturgy publications, providing no-fee clinicians and other assistance," the archbishop said. "The parish grants are another way for the company to show it considers parishes as true partners, not merely customers."
All U.S. Catholic parishes are eligible to apply for grants up to $5,000, whether or not they subscribe to the company's worship programs. The deadline for the next round of grants is June 30.
Normally awarded to individual parishes, the grant program departed from tradition this year to give $4,200 to the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas. The diocese intends to use the grant to provide special music and liturgy workshops for pastoral musicians and liturgical ministers in its 45 parishes and eight missions.
Other parishes planned to use their grants to upgrade the church sound system, purchase Spanish-language hymnals, or send choir directors and organists to national or regional music/liturgy conferences.
"We're very pleased with the response and the positive impact our grant program has on parishes around the country," said John Limb, publisher. "Even though we're a not-for-profit, we're a successful company due to the support we've received from churches. We love giving back to the communities that have helped us spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
NCADDHM Conference 2005
Constructores del Reino: from good will to skills
Cleveland, Ohio
The National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors for Hispanic Ministry will hold its 2005 conference in Cleveland, OH on June 21-24.
The conference will include keynote addresses, workshops, and panel presentations. The registration fee includes continental breakfast & lunch on Wednesday, continental breakfast, lunch & dinner on Thursday, and continental breakfast on Friday. Fee: NCADDHM members $250 per person. Non-members: $300 per person.
To obtain more information, please call Elisa Montalvo, President of NCADDHM, Office for the Hispanic Apostolate, 811 Cathedral Place, Richmond, VA 23220. Tel: 804-359-5661, ext. 204.
Program of Liturgical Formation
The National Hispanic Institute of Liturgy
Washington, DC
The National Hispanic Institute of Liturgy (INHL) offers a program geared to all liturgical ministries in the Hispanic community that bring animation to parish life in those dioceses without sufficient personnel to form the Hispanic people in their own language and culture.
The phases of the program are designed in such way that they could be adapted to the local needs of the arch-dioceses. The three phases of the program are:
- The Liturgical Year and the Sacramental Life
- The Eucharistic Celebration
- Sacramental Liturgy
For more information, please contact INHL at 202-319-6450 or via e-mail: cua-inhl@cua.edu
Also visit their web-site at http://liturgia.cua.edu
Hispanic Ministry Graduate Programs
Boston College
Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry
The Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College offers a graduate certificate in Hispanic Ministry and a Master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry with Concentration in Hispanic Ministry. These academic programs seek to prepare academically, professionally, and spiritually all Latinos/as and others involved in Hispanic Ministry in the Catholic Church in the United States. The Institute commits itself to provide between 70% and 100% tuition remission for Hispanic Ministry students.
For further information, contact Hosffman Ospino at 617-552-8440 or at ospinoho@bc.edu Also visit their website: www.bc.edu/irepm
Director of Hispanic Ministry
Diocese of Grand Island, NE
The Diocese of Grand Island, NE is looking for a Director for Hispanic Ministry. Responsibilities include the implementation of goals of the USCCB National Guidelines for Hispanic Ministry. Work include assisting parishes in their efforts to ministry and evangelize the Hispanic community. Detailed job description available upon request.
Qualifications: ability to speak and write in Spanish and English is required. Master’s degree in Theology or related field. Applicants that have a Bachelor’s or certification in Pastoral Ministry with five or more years of experience coordinating/ directing parish ministries will be considered. Other skills needed: effective communications skills and computer competent. The Diocese offers competitive compensation/benefits package.
If interested, contact: Father Paul Colling, P.O. Box 578, Lexington, NE 68850. Tel: 308-324-4647.