Region X Gathers Diocesan Delegates

Episcopal Region X's team (Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas) hosted the training of Diocesan Delegates on November 14-15, 2015 at the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, TX and began their meetings with prayer and song. Ninety delegates representing 17 dioceses from various ministry backgrounds, ages, and nationalities joined their voices to sing in English and Spanish, "Ardia Nuestro Corazón," a theme-song inspired by the V Encuentro. Lead Bishop S.E.R Joe S. Vásquez from the Diocese of Austin welcomed delegates and expressed his thanks to everyone for participating in the Encuentro process as a means to develop pastoral responses to the growing needs of Hispanic/Latinos in the Church.

"We have to remember that this gathering is not just an event, it’s an opportunity to walk together as one community,"

said Fr. Héctor Madrigal who was assigned by Bishop Vásquez to accompany the regional team throughout the Encuentro process. Throughout the training, delegates had opportunities to share what it means to be a Hispanic Catholic in the United States and talk about current challenges and opportunities. Fernando Mejía, a 24-year-old student from the Diocese of Beaumont shared his personal experience and reflected on current statistics that indicate that the majority of Hispanics in the United States are under the age of 30. Mejía commented that despite these statistics, the majority of students who participate in the Catholic Student Center at his university are predominately Euro-American and that Hispanics are not well represented and he wonders why.

"We

are the new face of the Church," Mejía said. "The image of an all Euro-American Church is changing."

The question of how to better include young Catholics dominated conversations throughout the training. Deacon Pedro Juárez from the Diocese of Lubbock shared that often we want to blame young Catholics for leaving the Church, but in reality there has been a lack of formation for them.

"Maybe we haven’t done the greatest job at listening, and we need to in order to find better ways to engage with youth and young adults," said Juárez. "Sometimes you have to admit mistakes and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as his instruments."

The opportunity to be a part of a process aimed at discerning solutions to the question of how to better involve youth in the life of the Church inspired Ruricel "Rudy" Hernández to seriously assume his role in this process.

"Youth have a thirst for learning more about their faith and how they can share their gifts with the Church," said Hernández. "Investing in our youth is non-negotiable."

Another topic of concern among delegates was how to best serve Hispanic families, especially economically disadvantaged immigrant families. Deacon Ignacio Torres from the Diocese of El Paso serves immigrant families in his parish and said that participating in the training for diocesan delegates gave him hope.

"Now I can go back to my parish community and explain the objectives of the Encuentro process and tell them that this is our opportunity to dream," said Torres.

Opportunities to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic Catholic expressions were also a part of the training via dialogue, the celebration of the Mass, and socializing together.

"We

are not a problem or challenge, we are a blessing, and we can be a blessing to others by being a community that has the capacity to be brothers and sisters with everyone," said Torres.

It is with this spirit that we agreed that forming diocesan teams is an opportunity to live as missionary disciples with new ardor, new methods and new expressions of what it means to be an inclusive Catholic community.   2016 © Carla Ortiz/ENAVE. All Rights Reserved.