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Article_Hispanic families: hope for the Church

Feature News | Thursday, December 18, 2014

Hispanic families: hope for the Church

Hispanic movements in Southeastern U.S. start preparing for 2015 World Meeting of Families

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MIAMI | In preparation for Pope Francis’ trip to Philadelphia next year for the World Meeting of Families, representatives of the Hispanic apostolic movements of the archdiocese met Dec. 6 at Immaculate Conception Church in Hialeah.


“I am very excited that the World Meeting for Families is going to be here, in the United States. I want to go. What is there to do? How do we prepare for this?” said Gerry Rivadeneira, a member of Cursillos and parishioner at Mother of Christ in Miami. 

The Rivadeneira's Álvaro and Gerry members of Cursillo Movement and parishioners of Mother of Christ, participated in the meeting of the Hispanic apostolic movements of the Archdiocese in order to be prepare for Pope Francis' trip to Philadelphia 2015.

Photographer: ROCIO GRANADOS

The Rivadeneira's Álvaro and Gerry members of Cursillo Movement and parishioners of Mother of Christ, participated in the meeting of the Hispanic apostolic movements of the Archdiocese in order to be prepare for Pope Francis' trip to Philadelphia 2015.

For Rivadeneira, family is most important: She has three children and she worries about how they will form their own families in a society that, “as the pope said, thinks (only) about temporary things. How do we prepare to strengthen our children, so that they can be motivated to form permanent marriages; to believe that the family is still the nucleus that is the most important to society?” Rivadeneira said. 

Rivadeneira and her husband, Alvaro, are planning to go to Philadelphia next year. This was the first meeting that the Southeast Pastoral Institute (SEPI) and the apostolic movements of Miami organized in preparation for the World Meeting of Families, which will take place September 22–27, 2015, in Philadelphia. 

“We are beginning a journey of pastoral ministry to families, in conjunction with all of the dioceses in the Southeast. This is a process where we are going to meet, reflect together with all of the movements of all of the dioceses, to prepare for the meeting with the pope in Philadelphia. And after the meeting with the pope we will continue to meet to see how we can implement everything that the pope and the Synods of the Bishops have told families,” said Piarist Father Rafael Capo, executive director of SEPI.

“It is the start of a nine month process, in which we are going to reflect with a monthly program, a catechesis about the situation of the family,” said Ondina Menocal, coordinator of the Hispanic apostolic movements in the archdiocese.

The Hispanic apostolic movements are very strong in Miami, “there are more than 20 in the entire archdiocese,” Menocal added. 

At the meeting at Immaculate, about 13 movements were represented, among them Horizontes de Cristiandad (for people over 60), Legion of Mary, Camino, Schoenstatt, Cursillos, Caballeros de Colón, and others. 

When speaking about family, the groups refer not only to couples, but to the extended family, the Latin American vision. 

“It is recognizing the role of children and the elderly,” said Menocal. 

“Hispanics have a key role in the ministries and the history of the archdiocese,” said Father Manny Alvarez, pastor at Immaculate Conception, who spoke to those gathered about The Process of the Hispanic Pastoral Ministry.

“The North American bishops recognized two things in Hispanics: hope, because they brought with them, particularly the Mexican community, their traditions, their posadas, their songs, their blessings, all of which are so important to the life of every one of our parishes,” Father Alvarez said. Equally, the bishops saw the importance of family for Hispanics, “because we came to this country to seek a better life for our families, be it for political or financial reasons. They saw hope in us.”  

“They (also) saw the commitment that we had with our Church. We wanted to dedicate ourselves to Church work, to evangelization, to catechesis, to helping others,” added Father Alvarez. He emphasized, “The actual crisis of the Church is evangelization and catechesis.” 

Andrea Blanco and William Cardona, a married couple who work for the offices of Hispanic Ministry and Family Life in the Diocese of Raleigh, also spoke. They presented the catechesis of preparation for the World Meeting of Families, which they developed in collaboration with SEPI.

“Every catechesis (10 in total) has a 10-point framework, that includes a reflection on the doctrine of the Church, a social reflection, a reading from the Bible and activities that can be done in a family setting in the parishes,” said Blanco.

The catechesis has two objectives: “So that those who participate in person will be able to see the conclusion of those 10 lessons, and so hose who won’t be able to attend can find out what was done,” said Cardona. 

“I appreciate the work that is being done; it is never too early to plan things out,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski, who stopped by the meeting to greet the participants. 

“The theme of family is more important every day, especially in the culture that we live in that is very individualistic. People live alone. Children, the only relationships they have are virtual, via computers, cellphones, and television. They might have two televisions, but they don’t have any siblings, cousins, aunt and uncles, or grandparents; sometimes the father or the mother is missing in the household, which represents a true crisis for society and for the Church, as well,” Archbishop Wenski said. 

In his presentation on the Evangelizing Mission of the Family, Father Capo advised those who plan to attend the meeting in Philadelphia “to not only attend to see the pope, but to walk with the pope.”

The preparation process for Hispanic Family Ministry will be taking place in the 30 dioceses in nine states that constitute the U.S. bishops’ Southeast Region for Hispanics. Father Capo initiated the process after receiving the approval of Archbishop Wenski and Pope Francis himself. 

“This is the first event to initiate the process. From January to August 2015, we are going to convene meetings with the leaders of Hispanic ministry and movements in the various provinces. Here, for Florida, we will have a grand meeting for the whole province, probably in the Diocese of Orlando,” Father Capo said. 
Andrea Blanco and William Cardona, a married couple who work for the offices of Hispanic Ministry and Family Life in the Diocese of Raleigh, spoke about: Challenges of the Family during the meeting of the Hispanic apostolic movements of the archdiocese, in which the assistants also took part.

Photographer: ROCIO GRANADOS

Andrea Blanco and William Cardona, a married couple who work for the offices of Hispanic Ministry and Family Life in the Diocese of Raleigh, spoke about: Challenges of the Family during the meeting of the Hispanic apostolic movements of the archdiocese, in which the assistants also took part.

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