Meet Alejandro Siller-Gonzalez

Alejandro Siller-Gonzalez was born and raised in Mexico, where he married a U.S. citizen of a French-Canadian family from Maine who immigrated to Mexico and lived there for more than twenty-five years. They raised their four children by blending their three cultures. Alejandro was a successful businessman whose work values where based on the social teachings of the Church. He was actively involved in the Church participating in small family Christian communities that he promoted all over Mexico for more than twenty-five years in addition to the Christian Family Movement. The issue of endemic poverty in Mexico was a an important pastoral concern for Alejandro that led to his being invited to the Board of Caritas in Guadalajara Mexico, where he served until he came to the United States. After reaching their empty-nest stage, Alejandro and his wife Louise Anne felt called to move to the U.S. to serve Hispanic immigrant communities as well as under-served Mexican-Americans in the U.S. Church and society. They were invited as a couple in 1989 by the Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) in San Antonio Texas to serve Hispanic immigrants with a two year contract and Alejandro stayed on for more than thirteen years; he was now the immigrant in the family. While at MACC, he dedicated himself to identifying and meeting the needs for the pastoral leadership formation of marginated immigrant communities living in "colonias" in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and in other parts of the U.S. In 2012, Alejandro accepted the position of Assistant Director for Hispanic Programs at the Congar Institute in San Antonio in order to assist the Catholic Church with Hispanic lay formation programs. Alejandro is a member of ENHAVE and forms part of the Process Committee, in addition to being available as a mentor for Episcopal Team Region X. He hopes to contribute be bridge-builder among the culturally diverse Hispanic communities and other cultural groups. He hopes to continue serving the most vulnerable and marginated communities that are active in the Catholic Church and the baptized who have fallen away from the Church. He strives to be part of the development of a new generation of Hispanic leaders. His vision and hope for the V Encuentro is to first- build a more inclusive Catholic community that welcomes all cultures, ethnic groups, and generations, with special attention to youth, different family structures, and the poor and marginated. Second, he hopes to contribute to the formation of Hispanic servant leaders that will evangelize through their committed discipleship as witnesses of Jesus Christ in our everyday lives. He believes that the Hispanic culture has deeply imbedded values that can contribute to the formation of a strong, dynamic Catholic Church and U.S. culture based on Gospel values. 2016 © Alejandro Siller-Gonzalez.  All Rights Reserved.