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Libros/ Books
El Sol Latino June 2020
The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico: Neil Connolly’s Priesthood in the South Bronx by ANGEL GARCÍA • New York, NY: Fordham University Press | January 2020 | 336 pages Church in the South Bronx. Campaigns for Description: South Bronx, 1958. Change was coming. Some of it much needed, some inevitable. Guidance was sorely needed to bridge the old and human dignity and social justice played a large part in that process. Angel Garcia captures the the new, for enunciating and implementing a vision. It was a unique place spirit of the era, and the spirit of the man. and time in history where Father Neil Connolly found his true calling and - James Martin, S.J., author of Jesus: A spiritual awakening. The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico captures the spirit Pilgrimage and My Life with the Saints of the era and the spirit of this great man. Set in historical context of a changing world and a changing Catholic Church, The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico follows Fr. Neil Connolly’s path through the South Bronx, which began with a special Church program to address the post-war Great Puerto Rican Migration. After an immersion summer in Puerto Rico, Fr. Neil served the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the Bronx from the 1960’s to the 1980’s as they struggled for a decent life. Through the teachings of Vatican II, Connolly assumed responsibility for creating a new Church and World. In the war against drugs, poverty, and crime, Connolly created a dynamic organization and chapel run by the people and supported Unitas, a nationally unique peer-driven mental health program for youth. Frustrated by the lack of institutional responses to his community’s challenges, Connolly challenged government abandonment and spoke out against ill-conceived public plans. Ultimately, he realized that his priestly mission was in developing new leaders among people, in the Church and the World, supporting two nationally unique lay leadership programs, the Pastoral Center and People for Change. A timely story about discovering the real mission of priesthood, urban ministry, and the Catholic Church in the United States, author Angel Garcia ably blends the dynamic forces of Church and World that transformed Fr. Connolly as he grew into his vocation. The book presents a rich history of the South Bronx and calls for all urban policies to begin with the people, not for the people. It also affirms the continuing relevance of Vatican II and Medellin for today’s Church and World, in the U.S. and Latin America. Reviews: The Puerto Rican migration after the Second World War challenged the Catholic Church of New York. Through the efforts of priests like Fr. Neil Connolly, they and the other Latinos who followed became the heart of that
The Puerto Rican migration after the Second World War challenged the New York Catholic Church. Thanks to the efforts of priests like Fr. Neil Connolly, as well as the people themselves, the Church rose to the challenge, with good will and on-going discernment. Conducted with the people, organizing campaigns involving other priests and religious and lay church workers of the South Bronx, many were invited into cooperation, solidarity and spirituality by Fr. Connolly…Angel Garcia captures the spirit of the era, and the spirit of the man. - Fr. James Joyce, S.J., former Director of Social Ministries for the New York Province of the Society of Jesus and the past Chair of the Board of Jesuit Social Ministries. The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico is an engaging study of the dedicated and charismatic Irish-American priest of the archdiocese of New York and the vicar of the South Bronx, Father Neil Connolly, who was widely respected, far beyond the confines of his own faith community, for his efforts in the poorest congressional district in the United States. Pope Francis would have been proud of him because he shared Francis’s values and priorities, especially his commitment to the poor. Angel Garcia offers here a valuable introduction to the role of the Catholic Church in the survival and revival of the South Bronx. - Msgr. Thomas J. Shelley, Emeritus Professor of Church History at Fordham University ANGEL GARCÍA was a community organizer and executive director of South Bronx People for Change, a church-based direct action and membership organization co-founded by Fr. Connolly. Born in Puerto Rico, and a graduate of Regis High School, Princeton University, and Pace University, García is a long-term resident of the South Bronx and has been active on social justice issues and worker cooperatives.
Compatriotas: Exilio y retorno de Luis Muñoz Marín por PABLO JOSÉ HERNÁNDEZ RIVERA (Autor), A. W. MALDONADO (Prefacio) • Publicación independiente | 21 de mayo de 2020 | 315 páginas Este libro trata sobre el exilio voluntario de Luis Muñoz Marín en Europa luego de que el Partido Popular Democrático sufriera su primera derrota en 1968, y su retorno suspensivo y climático a un mes de las elecciones de 1972. Luis Muñoz Marín fundó el Partido Popular Democrático en 1938. Gobernó a Puerto Rico desde 1949 hasta 1964, cuando escogió como sucesor a su mano derecha, Roberto Sánchez Vilella. El PPD arrasó en las elecciones de 1964. Sin embargo, la transición de maestro a discípulo desembocó en una división interna histórica que culminó en la primera derrota del PPD y la elección del primer gobernador estadista en 1968. Muñoz, frustrado con la dependencia del PPD en su figura y deseoso de facilitar la transición hacia una nueva generación de líderes comandada por Rafael Hernández Colón, se exilió voluntariamente en Europa en agosto de 1970. Nadie sabía cuándo volvería, y él debatía si debería. El 8 de octubre de 1972, a un mes de las elecciones, reapareció ante una multitud de 150,000 puertorriqueños en Plaza las Américas para ofrecer lo que sería su último gran discurso político-electoral. Este libro recoge la historia de ese “retorno a la patria”, como Muñoz le llamó.
Pablo José Hernández se graduó de la Universidad de Harvard con una concentración en Gobierno y estudió Derecho en la Universidad de Stanford, donde recibió el Gerald Gunther Prize for Outstanding Performance in Legal Research and Writing y el John Hart Ely Prize for Outstanding Performance in Ethics. Ha editado tres libros: Hacia la meta final: El Nuevo Pacto (2011), Estado Libre Asociado: Naturaleza y Desarrollo (2014) y defiéndELA: Columnas para impulsar el Estado Libre Asociado (2017). Alex W. Maldonado es un reconocido y laureado periodista de los rotativos San Juan Star, El Mundo y El Reportero.
